Feathers and Fire for Hands
by SwampTreader
Summary: While the avatar still slumbers in the ice, Mingan, a Watertibe woman, is suddenly ripped from her life on the snow. A man with fire for hands whisks her away to the Fire Nation. She is a slave in the sweltering nation. A savage, a barbarian, to all but one Prince.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey let me know what you think :) Ignore any typos, I still can't seem to manage to rid my documents of them all.**

**Prolouge: **

_It had all started with the man with fire for hands. _

She had been chasing The Great Red Deer, spear in hand, bow slung over her back. It was her Pamuyan; her 'water moon', the passage of girl to woman. The Red Deer was an animal of great honor in her tribe. They were admired for their ability to survive. The Red Deer was known for being able to run for miles and if _anyone_ (let alone a girl) could free the animals spirit by bow or spear, it was a sign from the spirits. The hunter was be said to be destined for something great.

The young woman's breath froze in the air as she ran after the deer, her strides long and calm. She could see the red blur in the distance nearing. She had been pursuing the deer for hours. Her lungs burned, her throat numb from the icy air. She was unlike any woman to ever to grace the Southern Water Tribe. She was a fighter, she was a hunter. She ran. Her spirit and the Red Deer- Loota-Kohanis- were linked from her birth. It was said two comets had loped across the sky on the night she was born. They were not bright or impressive, but slow and persistent. The Shaman, an ancient man who was entwined with the spirits like lover's fingers, had seen the two running lamps in the sky.

It was Chuchip and Kohanis. The woman and the deer. Chuchip was the first person, a woman, to ever free the Red Deer's spirit. Kohanis was a proud stag- the Great Red Deer. The two spirits met again in the spirit world and ran across the skies.

Now, hundreds of years later, a young woman was running after a Red Deer. A stag.

It had taken a toll on both of them. The woman's chest ached and every stride was agony. They had been running since the dawn of that day. The deer suddenly slowed and stopped. He turned broadside and locked eyes with the girl. She pulled her bow from her back, knocked an arrow and took aim…

She had been welcomed back to her village with initial shock and then celebration. Chief Hakoda, with his children Sokka and Katara at his side, had held a three day feast for her.

"Mingan, the grey wolf, has truly followed in the footsteps of our mother, Chuchip. The spirits smile at her!" The Shaman had announced at the beginning of festivities.

A week later and Mingan was back on the ice. Despite being the most honored woman in the village, she still had to help with providing food for the winter at hand. She could out run and out shoot any man. It was what made her an excellent, fervent hunter, because woman could do anything a man could.

A young man, a Prince, was also on the ice. He accompanied Admiral Zhao and a large crew of men to the South Pole in search of oil. It was a new resource, only recently discovered in the south-most tip of the Earth Kingdom. However, it could only be found in small pockets underground. In hope of finding larger, more reliable sources, Fire Lord Ozai had sent a recon team to the icy underbelly of the world, his son included.

To Zuko it was a chance to prove himself, to Ozai an opportunity to teach his son necessary skills and to Admiral Zhao… to gain the Fire Lord's favor.

There were rumors of a savage people that lived on the snow, demons that could take the shape of animals and vanish into thin air. The Prince thought this nonsense.

He had left most of the drilling to Zhao and the men and took it upon himself to record the strange beasts that lived there.

_Maybe it had all started with the girl with feathers in her hair._

**CHAPTER 1:**

They had met in stunned silence. The wind rustled the feather in the girl's hair and the white fur of her coat.

The driving snow had melted around the man's body.

The stared, and breathed. They had never seen someone like eachother.

The man wore armor that shined like wet ice in the sun.

The girl looked wild; feral, untamed.

There was a whoosh of air as the man's hands turned to fire.

It had taken all of two seconds for an arrow to be aimed at the junction of his neck and shoulder, where his armor did not protect.

Maybe that was all that it took for him to send a blast of flame at the girl in animal furs.

She rolled out of the way and leapt to her feet. She re-aimed her arrow -almost clumsily- and let it sing through the air, slamming through the man's strange armor with a _thunk_. He snarled in surprise, and maybe even pain, before he let loose a torrent of fire. He could not help but notice the girl's lightning fast reaction.

She dodged out of the way of another ball of fire and pulled another arrow from the quiver on her back. She could see the young man becoming unglued, his eyes burning as he swept a line of flame at her. She ran, keeping a bead on the man with fire for hands. He was an easy target. His black armor did nothing to blur the lines of his form in the snow, he did not move much, staying generally in the same spot.

Another arrow flew through the bitter air. It would have pierced his skin had a sharp wind not snatched it from its lethal course. In shock at her failed arrow, fire licked through her animals hide pants and singed her legs. She cried out in pain and tripped over her feet, tumbling to the ice-covered snow.

The thin sheet of ice broke under her weight and she sunk into the fluffy snow beneath. She heard the tell-tale sound of footsteps breaking through ice. She barley caught the man in the corner of her eye before she rolled out of the way of a burning fist. She scrambled to her feet, seeking purchase on the undamaged ice around her. She had no other weapons that could be reached in time to defend herself so she chose the only one she had; her legs.

She turned on her heels and ran. She was only just sorting her legs out when a hand snagged her ankle, bringing her toppling to the snow. She landed hard on her side. She only had time to roll on her back and put her hands up in front of her face before the man leapt on top of her. A short cry passed through her lips at her sudden and unforeseen position. The man's eyes were the color of fire, but it was the second thing she noticed. The first was the angry scar that covered his left eye.

The man was not sure why he had made the first move to attack this dark-skinned creature. He never thought things through. In truth, he had been startled, but as soon as she drew her bow he had been terribly intrigued. But his inner-fire, the thing that controlled his knee-jerk, self-preservation reactions had taken over.

The girl was light on her feet, her running steps not even cracking the ice like his metal boots had the whole time he'd been here. She had impeccable aim; he had a small mark on his shoulder to prove it.

It was his burning curiosity that had made him grab her ankle and pin her to the ground. He wanted to know more about her. _Boy, what a charmer. _

He had never seen blue eyes before and it had distracted him for a second. It was foolish, he had been trained his whole life to never lose focus, and yet something as simple as blue could cloud his thoughts. So, to say the least, he was not prepared for the blow to the ear he received. The thin gloves on the girls hands didn't do much to soften the blow, but she apparently thought different.

She ripped her glove from her hand with straight, pearly teeth. He managed to see the next fist coming at him and shouldered it.

She tried to wriggle out from under her attacker and when she found she was making no progress she slammed her knee into his ribs. She cried out in pain when her kneecap cracked against armor. She tried to hit him, aimed to knock his bared teeth out. His larger, hot hands blocked her fists. He immobilized her legs, pinning them between his knees. Panic was beginning to creep into her chest.

She clawed at his face, almost laughing in joy when she felt one of her nails rip into his cheek.

Her arms were strong, he would give her that. He drove his elbow into her arm, pinning it down in the snow. His other hand was curled tightly around her other wrist. Maybe he could talk to her now that she wasn't trying to kill him.

Options were becoming slim for her. She had almost resorted to spitting in his face when she saw the pale skin of his throat peek through the high collar of his shirt. She locked down onto that little sliver of exposed flesh, just under his jaw. She still had one weapon left.

It took Zuko a long second to process why the cold tip of her nose was suddenly buried along his jaw. The intense pain of teeth sinking through his skin jerked him back to reality. He was sure she was going to take a huge chunk out of his throat. It reminded him of that time a young eel hound had latched onto his hand as a child.

Mingan felt unnaturally warm skin against her lips and blood in her mouth. With a strangled howl the man tore away from her and she managed to scramble out from under him. She leapt to her feet and snagged her bow and spilled arrows a few yards away. She was pulling her bow and arrow up to kill him when he spoke.

"Stop!" He shouted, holding a hand to his neck. Blood stained the tops of his pale fingers as he looked up at her.

The woman's chest was heaving under her furs, her bow aimed at his skull. But, she seemed shocked to hear him yell out. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," she growled lowly, the sharp flint tip of her bow still aimed at his face.

"I want to talk."

A sharp, very pretty laugh rang from her mouth. "You attack me and then you expect me to talk!?"

Zuko rose to his feet looking at his blood stained palm. Mingan took a wary step back. "I am in within every right as Prince of the Fire Nation to kill you where you stand."

"Fire Nation? Is that your village?" She asked, suddenly curious, the tip of her arrow dipping towards the snow. Zuko gave her an incredulous glance and then wiped his hand on the bottom of his cloak.

"Yes, I suppose. Were you unaware that there are other people in the world outside of this wasteland?"

"No," she snapped. "I am not stupid."

"Could have fooled me," he mumbled touching his torn flesh tenderly.

"What was that?" Mingan asked sharply raising her bow again. Zuko put his hand out, signaling her to just relax.

"Nothing. What are you doing out here anyway?"

"You are in no position to be asking questions," the strange girl warned.

"Am I?" He bit back alighting a small flame in his hand. "I bet fire travels just as fast as an arrow."

"Care to find out?" She quipped pulling the string back.

Zuko straightened up at this. This girl had audacity, talking to a Prince like that. He straightened his collar and rolled his shoulders. He thought diplomacy might save them some blood-shed. She had already proven she would not hesitate to harm him. "Anyway," he said clearing his throat, "What's your name, girl?"

Her eyebrows furrowed a little. "Mingan." She studied him for a second. "What's yours?"

"Zuko, crown prince of the Fire Nation, son of Fire Lady Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai," he stated proudly.

"I asked for your name not your whole life story," Mingan retorted rolling her eyes.

If it was anyone else he would have burnt them to a crisp, but he was far too curious to lash out at this girl. "You never answered my question, what are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she answered coldly.

Zuko snorted steam, annoyed. "If you must know, I am exploring. My people have never been here before. I'm taking personal observations."

"I see. I'm hunting," she said turning her head a little to get a different angle on him. "How many of you are there?"

"A hundred or so. We're looking for oil," he answered.

"Oil?"

He rolled his eyes. _Was this girl really so naïve? _"Yes. Black, sticky, comes from the ground?"

"We don't have any of that here," Mingan answered confidently.

"You don't?" Zuko reiterated.

"Are you deaf?" She said tersely.

Zuko felt heat rushing to his limbs. _This girl was infuriating! And disrespectful to boot!_ "You should watch how you speak to me. I am within every right to kill you for your insolence," he threatened again.

"You are not my Prince. You have no rights here," Mingan fired back. Zuko was about to give her a good toungue lashing but she cut him off. "How do you make fire with your hands?" She asked putting her bow over her shoulders.

The Prince was caught off guard at her suddenly soft and curious expression. "It's just like any other kind of bending. You just feel it and-" fire came to his palms.

"How do you not get burned?" She asked curiously, big blue eyes full of innocence.

"Fire is as every part of us as breathing, our own fire cannot burn us."

She nodded, seeming to be satisfied with that answer. "Are there benders here?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, waterbenders, not many though." Mingan couldn't help but think of Katara, she was the only one in their tribe. It was quiet for a long moment. "What is that you're wearing?" She asked taking an unconscious step forward.

"Armor."

"Yes I know that, but what is it made from?"

"Metal," Zuko answered.

"Metal?"

"Yes, here," he said snagging her wrist and putting her bare hand on his chest. She shot him a little glare and then curled her fingers and knocked her knuckles against the breastplate.

"Metal." It sounded like a question. "Interesting," she said stepping away.

It was easy talking to her, Zuko realized. She listened and did not judge, she asked questions, genuinely curious about his culture. They weren't exactly sure when they sat down and Mingan made a small fire. The Crown Prince was just as curious about her people as she was his. These people did not sound like the savages the stories claimed them to be… not Mingan at least.

Zuko felt almost silly when he drew a small leather journal from under his armor and showed her the picture he had drawn of the animals he had seen here. She pointed to the drawings eagerly and told him what their names were.

She obviously did not know how to read, or at least she didn't comment on the silly names he had placed next to the pictures.

Mingan thought Zuko was a pretty good artist. He seemed to catch even the smallest details of the animals he drew. She saw strange marks next to the pictures, unsure of what purpose they held. She was almost sure it was writing. Her people had a small written language, ancient of course and mostly useless. Only the Shaman, Hakoda and his children knew how to read and write.

"That's a tiger-seal," she told him pointing at the striped animal in his book. "And that's a Loota-Kohanis, or the Red Deer is his more common name."

"I see," Zuko said quietly scratching out his words and writing in the correct name. He turned the page.

"What is that!?" Mingan yelped pressing closer against Zuko's shoulder, trying to get a better look. It was such a cute creature, one that took up the whole page.

"That's a turtle-duck. They live in the gardens in my home."

"It's so cute, I wish we had them here," she almost crooned.

"My mother was particularly fond of them," he said as casually as he could. The ache in his chest for his mother still existed.

It was starting to get dark when they finally decided to go their separate ways.

* * *

The odd pair found themselves meeting in a spot sheltered from the wind, every few days and talking until dusk. There was a lot to be learned.

A few days later and Mingan surprised him yet again.

"I would love to see your camp. I bet there's lots of new things there I haven't seen before," she said shyly. Zuko tensed. He knew the men's opinion of her people, which he had found to be pretty untrue, but still. They wouldn't like her. At. All.

"That's a bad idea," he said firmly. He couldn't help but think of Zhao. That vile man would either kill her or use her for his own purposes. She was certainly pretty enough for his tastes.

"I wouldn't get in the way, I promise. And maybe I could show them things about my people. It's not like I don't know what you think of us; barbaric people."

Zuko sat up straighter. "How do you know that? He blurted. "How do you know what we think of your people?" He asked. _My, this girl was smart._

"Because I saw the way you looked at me. It wasn't your eyes that saw me, but the eyes of a whole nation, formulating lies and judgments."

Zuko was impressed by her accurate insightfulness. But that was beside the point. "No," he said again, walking over to the still burning fire and picking up his pack. It was getting late.

"Why? It's not like I'm going to go in there wielding a club or something," she protested scrambling to her feet.

"Mingan, it's a bad idea. A really bad one."

"Surely your people aren't so stubborn?" She pressed.

"I said no!" He snapped.

She gave him a hard look and her bottom lip pushed out a little. "Fine."

It was silent as Zuko packed his few belongings and eased the strap over his shoulder. He rubbed the back of his neck. He felt bad for yelling at her, but would she listen any other way? "I had a good time today," he forced out. She smiled a little at him.

"Well, um, I guess I'll be seeing you then," she shrugged, looking at her feet.

"Yeah," Zuko mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Next Day:**

_One Hour before Sunrise-_

Mingan crouched behind a snow drift, peeking out at the strange Fire Nation camp that sprawled before her. She wasn't going to stay away just because some man had told her to. Besides, she was sure once she actually showed up Zuko wouldn't refuse her and then he would see that she could teach his people. The sky was just beginning to turn morning-grey. It was plenty light enough for her to see. She would have stayed put until she saw Zuko but she couldn't stop herself when she saw a strange metal object sitting on a log.

She looked around, making sure no one was awake yet; it seemed quiet enough. She crept along, staying close to the snow, her white pelt coat keeping her fairly well-camouflaged. She crouched in front of the log and looked at the strange item before her. It was like her tribe's ceremonial headdresses but it wasn't made from a sacred animal of any sort, it was just… metal. She pulled her glove off with her teeth and tentatively stretched her fingers out to touch it. It was just like Zuko's armor. She wondered if they used it for ceremonial gatherings. She furrowed her eyebrows. It seemed a bit plain for that, but what did she know of their people?

She knocked her knuckles against it gently, but it tipped off the log and toppled onto the ice with a loud clatter. She gasped sharply and in her haste to get away from it, slipped and landed on her backside. She froze for a second, just waiting for chaos to ensue. People would be flooding from their tents any second now.

Nothing happened. Maybe it wasn't as loud as she thought it had been.

With a sigh of relief she picked herself up and made sure her bow and arrows were securely strapped across her shoulders. The leather sling that crossed over her chest and kept the quiver and bow secure had needed replaced for months, and she was always worrying about it breaking. Mingan looked around at the camp. It was big, lots of space between the tents and various items. _Silly. They should have put their tents in a circle and kept the wind away from their fireplace. _

She looked back at the metal headdress, brushed the snow off and placed it back on the log, just in case it _was_ ceremonial. She didn't want to make anyone angry.

She explored along the edges of the camp, still too nervous to venture in any further. She heard snow crunch behind her and she spun around to see what it was. There was no one there. She went back to circling the camp. She peeked around a tent and stopped dead in her tracks.

"No," she breathed, her bare hand flying to cover her mouth. There was so much blood. Dead tiger-seals lay everywhere. Some had been skinned, the meaty carcass left bruised and frozen out on the snow. Headless bodies were scattered about, some with their flippers mutilated. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks. How could someone be so disrespectful to an animal that provided so much to them? Hardly anyone of the animals had been used for meat, like they should have been. Her people didn't just slaughter unnecessarily. But these- these _brutish people _had taken the pelts and heads for trophies! Her people would never, ever do such a thing. When they killed animals, they used every part they could. The hide was used for blankets, or to hang on the walls to honor the animals, not to brag about them. Even the bones were used for tools and structuring for her village. Nothing like this. She wished she had never come.

She started to backup, desperate to get away from all the blood and bodies. But she couldn't pry her eyes away from the horrific sight. Her shoulders were just turning to flee when a hand clamped over her mouth, a metal-cuffed arm slamming around her ribs, she cried out in fright.

"Wake up! Savage! Savage!" The man holding her yelled. She would have bitten him, but his hand was gloved and it would do no good. So she resorted to thrashing. She rammed her heels down his shin but jerked when searing pain shot through her foot and up her ankle. He was wearing armor on his legs. One gloved hand and one bare hand fumbled for hold on his metal cuff, attempting to yank his arm from her mouth. He held her tighter and dragged her body around as he turned and hobbled towards to the camp.

_No. No. She would not let herself within the confines of the camp._ She shoved backwards with all her might, hoping the man would lose his grip on her body. Mingan flung herself forward, hoping to break through his arms and run for it, but she only managed to smash her torso into his metal arms. She whimpered in pain, but didn't stop fighting. She tried to sink to her knees and confused him, but he jerked her upright. She heard the sound of feet running across the snow. She screamed out of fear and frustration.

Men came scrambling from their tents, pulling on coats and boots as they went. When she was within their sight, a look of shock and interest crossed their faces. After all, she was the first Water Tribesman they had ever seen. She glared at them defiantly. Through all the chaos and sounds of metal clashing against metal a man strode forward in total calm.

The sight of him instantly struck fear into her heart. She felt a cold sweat break out over her skin. He was tall, and very, very powerful. Even through his thick robes and fluttering hooded cape, she could tell he was a warrior. The other men all stood aside for him. She hated him from the instant her blue eyes locked with his golden ones. It was plain to her that something dark dwelled within him. She tried to glare to him, but she was too scared to do a good job of it.

"What's the meaning of this?" He asked, his hands locked behind his back. Mingan jerked against the man's grip and raised her chin definatley.

"I found her sneaking around the camp, Admiral Zhao," the man holding her said in a gruff voice.

"I see." He eyed the little savage girl carefully. "Free her mouth. A scout for war party, I'm sure," he said walking closer to her. He tilted his head and his jaw tightened in thought. "Pretty… too bad she's a savage," he said wistfully, lifting her chin with one finger. She snapped at him, her teeth clacking together when they met nothing but air. He drew his hand back sharply and gave her a hard, cold look. "Animal," he said in disgust. He turned his back to her and started to walk.

"You're the animal," she hissed. Zhao stopped and looked over his shoulder, his shoulders and body soon following.

"So, she speaks. How interesting, and here I thought they would talk in nothing but grunts," he said.

Mingan's fear melted in the burning anger in the pit of her stomach. She glared at him. "And I thought you would be a little more accepting of an ambassador of the Water Tribe," she snapped back. "I thought your people civilized until I saw the slaughter just outside your camp," she growled.

"How dare you. You stand there in animal skins and call us uncivilized." Zhao said sharply. _Ah, so she had struck a nerve._

She smirked. "At least I don't mutilate the bodies of the creatures that provide for me unlike your savage people."

An audible growl rumbled in the Admiral's chest. He got close to her face, their noses almost brushing. "You will hold your tongue, girl."

"Make me." She challenged.

Zhao straightened up. "I am not ashamed of my deeds. They were just animals," he said, completely ignoring her challenge.

"You say these things because you know you are wrong," Mingan said calmly. He gave her a cold look and turned on his heel, stepping away from her as if she were unworthy of his attention.

"You would turn your back in defeat, Admiral? Pitiful," she said coolly. Zhao moved so quickly she did not even know he had backhanded her until he pulled his hand back, preparing to strike her again. She looked at him defiantly, just daring him to do it again.

"You will not touch her, Admiral!" Someone yelled angrily.

Mingan looked over Zhao's shoulder and saw Zuko striding towards them, anger clear in his steps. He didn't even have his armor on, only a thick cloak, and he still managed to look frightening. The angry man with the sideburns spun around to face his Prince. "And what right do you have over her? I command this mission. And as I am in full right to do, I could have her throat slit, I'm considering it."

"You will do no such thing," Zuko said in a dangerously even voice.

"Why not Prince Zuko?" Zhao asked slimily.

"Because I am the Prince of the Fire Nation and I am allowed all the spoils of this expedition." He paused and gave her a long look. "And she is a very fine spoil."

"What!?" Mingan yelped. _So it was all a ploy -their blooming friendship- to get her to trust him so he could have her in his clutches? _

Zhao was not pleased with being wronged by Zuko. Now he would have to apologize for striking the Prince's slave girl. "I apologize Prince Zuko, I was unaware she belonged to you."

"I belong to no one!" Mingan cried, throwing her body against the man's grip.

"Quiet, Savage!" Zuko snapped. He turned to his men. "I have talked to this girl, she says there is no oil here. I'm cold and tired as I'm the rest of you are. We break camp today and leave as soon as possible. "Take her to my room."

"No!" She cried, thrashing wildly. She pushed herself off the ground with her feet, throwing her meager body weight against the man. He grunted and barley held himself upright. She did it again and again. She rammed her feet down on the tops of his, yelping in pain when the arch of her feet met his metal boots. "No, no no!" She screamed. She threw herself against his arms, the sharp edge of the armor nearly cutting through her coat. She kicked and struggled wildly and when none of that seemed to work she threw her head back, hitting the man in the chin. It stunned him a little and his arms loosened. She took her chances and smashed her body against his arms.

She nearly shouted for joy when she went tumbling headfirst into the snow. She was free! If she could only get to her feet and hightail it out of here. She scrambled to her knees, pushing herself up with her hands. Her feet found a firm grasp on the snow. She had done it she was-! Something hard and heavy slammed into her side sending her flying, skidding across the unforgiving ice.

Her head hit hard, making her see spots of color. Her ears felt as though they had been filled with water. Everything was in slow motion, the guard that had tackled her untangled himself and reached down to snag her up. She barely noticed when he righted her on her feet. Her knees would not support her and she started to slip down but the soldier held her against his chest. There was a roaring hum in her hears and oh, she felt like she was going to be sick.

Through the haze she could make out a scarred man coming towards her, a man she had once been willing to call a friend. She forced her head up to look at him. "Traitor," she hissed. She spit in the snow at his feet. She was swiftly boxed in the ear by the solider.

"Do not disrespect your master, Savage, much less your Prince," the man scolded. She could see black creeping around the edge of her vision.

"I trusted you, you pathetic excuse for a man!" She bit out. The darkness had tunneled her vision now and she was well aware she was losing consciousness. She felt herself slip from one set of arms into another before she passed out.

"Mingan, wake up." _No, not yet ._"Open your eyes.  
We have to get you out of here." _Why was that voice so familiar? _Consciousness started to seep into her limbs. _So tired. _"Wake up! We don't have much time." _What was that throbbing in her head? Oh, ow it hurt. _"Come on, you're almost awake, just open your eyes." She forced her eyelids open to see Zuko standing over her. _Where was she?_

She opened her mouth to ask but a wave of nausea came rolled over her. She leaned over the side of… well whatever she was laying on and was violently ill. Luckily, Zuko had a bin ready and threw it under her before she spilled the contents of her stomach on his floor. She breathed heavily, her stomach sore and her head pounding. "Where am I?" She croaked, looking around. Her vision was still blurry and the room started twisting and turning so she screwed her eyes shut.

"What have I done?" Zuko berated himself. Her head lolled forward and to the side, then back again. He pressed a warm rag against her mouth, wiping the vomit from her lips. "Agni-" he hissed. He pressed her shoulders back into the soft surface she was laying on.

"Where am I?" She asked again.

"You're on my ship," he answered.

"Y-you- this is your fault," she growled weakly.

"I know it is! Agni I know it is!" Zuko snapped, furious with himself.

The young woman in his bed groaned in pain, her hands reaching up clumsily to cradle her head between her palms. He had never felt so guilty before. He didn't want to hold captive an innocent woman, take her from the only home she had ever known, bring her home as a prize. It was sick.

If She hadn't been so stubborn, if she would have just stayed away like he told her to! He was angry at her for being so stubborn and even angrier at himself for getting her into this situation. But if he hadn't invoke property rights over her, Zhao would have killed her. "Come on, we need to get you out of her. Get up and I'll help you get your coat on."

"You're letting me go?" She asked, trying to focus on him, her eyes glassy. Zuko felt his skin flare up, that idiot that tackled her had given her a concussion, he was sure of it.

"Yes, come on," he said retrieving her coat from the bottom of the bed. Mingan pushed herself up, groaning, one hand held to her head. It took her a long time to sit up. Her face had drained of color, giving her pretty dark skin a sickly pallor. He winced and looked away. He felt so horrible for doing this to her. "Here," he said holding her coat open for her. She got to shaky feet. The floor spun beneath her and she stumbled forward. She tumbled into Zuko's arms. He set her on the edge of the bed gently. They were leaving in the morning and she couldn't even stand. How was he supposed to send her out on the ice and expect her to make the trip back to her village? She could pass out and die from exposure! Great Agni- she would be forced to stay with him. She wouldn't survive if he took her out there now.

He helped her lay back down and started pulling the covers over her again but she swatted his hands away weakly. "Too hot," she groaned.

He put the back of his fingers against the side of her neck and scolded himself. He should have known better. He pulled the blankets back off of her. This girl had lived her entire life in the tundra, she probably hadn't even been in a space as warm as this before! "Are you wearing anything under your hides?"

She nodded weakly, probably half delirious. Zuko hooked his fingers in the side of her heavy fur pants and tugged them off. She was wearing a light pair of close fitting pants underneath. He did the same with her heavy shirt and found the same close fitting material on her upper half. He tried not to stare at her lithe body but he couldn't help it. She was so tiny, sporting soft curves and muscled limbs. He forced his gaze from her and put her heavy outerwear over the back of a chair. She would stay here for the remainder of the night; he would bunk on the floor and move her to her own room in the morning. She didn't deserve to be in a cell, even if she was technically his slave. She hadn't done anything wrong. He pulled his palm down his face and groaned. What had he gotten himself into?


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a whole day since Zuko had supervised his men as they moved furniture and cleaned until a suitable room had been made for Mingan. He had dismissed them afterwards and had personally escorted a very sea-sick Watertribe girl into her new room. The Prince was pretty sure she was delirious and probably beginning to get dehydrated from all of her vomiting. Once she was settled in bed Zuko told the guard outside of her door that he was to bring her standard meals everyday. Now, at noon, Zuko was going through his final katas on the deck. It was still bitterly cold but he wasn't going to let that stop him.

"Prince Zuko!" It was Mingan's guard. "Your Watertribe girl is distressed. I don't know what's-"

Zuko was already heading down the stairs. It was deathly quiet in Mingan's quarters when he stopped and listened outside the door. One could say Zuko was quite confounded when he stepped inside and found the room to be utterly... disheveled. Chairs were tipped over, the table was skew from its spot, blankets were crumpled on the floor, among other things. "Mingan?" He asked dumbfounded. He heard fast breathing from the far corner of the room behind her bed. He walked towards the sounds, placing his feet carefully around the toppled furniture. Balled up in a corner Zuko found Mingan. She was quivering and panicked. He knelt beside her, fuming at whatever had caused her so much distress. He could not help but assume on of his men had tried something and if they had... Agni help him. "What happened?"

She did not answer or even look up at him, her face buried in her knees.

"Tell me what happened. Why does it look like a komodo-rhino stampeded through this room?" No answer. Zuko was becoming further agitated. He was not known to be the most patient man. "Answer me! Did one of the crewman try to hurt you?" Mingan looked up at him and shook her head. "Well then, what happened!?" He demanded.

"It's too.. close."

"What?" Zuko blurted. "You mean you're claustrophobic, scared of small places?" She nodded slowly seeming to understand. The Fire Nation Prince let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Dear Agni." It sort of made sense to him. It wasn't probable she had ever been confined to such a small place -against her will- for such a long period of time before. In the corner of his eyes he caught a tear in her shirt on her shoulder. He took his hand from his face and leaned forward to get a better look. There was a purple bruise beginning to form under the tear. "What happened here?" He asked motioning to her battered skin.

"I obviously bumped it," she said as if he was some kind of idiot.

"Just- I don't know, calm down and eat something. We will be in the Fire Nation in a matter of weeks."

"Weeks!?" She yelped. Zuko stood and ignored her. "I can't be in here for that long! Zuko I-"

"I'll take you out every few days for some fresh air." And with that he left, thoroughly annoyed.

* * *

Mingan had not known where she was when she awoke. It was dim and hot, wherever she was. Sweat had pooled on her temples and rolled down her face when she stood. She knew she was on a ship, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She had never been fond of water or boats after she had fallen overboard on her father's ship when she was nine. Her dad, her mother, would she ever see them again? It felt so stuffy in this room. She found a washroom and splashed water on her face and used the bathroom. She had to get out of this place and off this ship. She tried the door since there were no windows. It was locked. She tugged and pulled reaping the same useless results. She pounded her fists on the door, panic stirring in her belly. Her chest constricted and adrenaline started to pulse through her veins. "Help! Let me out!" She had yelled, throwing herself at the door. She tore through the room, searching for a way out. It was too hot, too close. The room seemed to shrink in on her and choke the breath from her lungs. She tipped over chairs and bumped into a table with her hip before she made it back over to the door to ram it with her shoulder. "Help me! Somebody!" She had not been able to stop herself from battering the door until she had collapsed, exhausted and sore. She had crawled into a corner and rode out the her panic attack. And then Zuko had come in.

* * *

It was a few days later that Zuko found Mingan sick again. She was curled up in the center of the bed, no blankets as usual. "What's wrong? Are you sick?" He asked. Usually she was milling around listlessly when he came to check on her.

She didn't answer him, just curled away from him. He went over and stood at the edge of the bed. "Well?" He asked again, annoyed already. He was getting tired of her biting attitude towards him. "Answer me, girl." He demanded.

"You're useless Fire Nation food is what's wrong. I can't even eat it it's so spicy!" She snapped.

Zuko had not answered her and made a personal visit to the kitchen to make sure his cook only prepared gentle foods for his slave girl. It didn't matter what it was, but the girl made him feel like a fool on a regular basis!

* * *

When Mingan took her first steps on the deck she felt immediate relief and forgot about her situation entirely, if only for a moment. She clung to Zuko's side as he walked across the metal deck. Mingan did not like the hard glares and sharp glances she received from the men on board. When they reached the edge she gripped the cold railing and looked out as far as she could see. There was no land, no icebergs, nothing. Nothing but unforgiving water. Her heart caved in on itself. Would she ever see snow again? Feel the sharp bite of artic air on her face? See her parents? Be tugged around by the group of rowdy boys she called her friends? She couldn't bare the thought. It was as if her insides were being torn apart, wrenched from her body. Her mind felt so full and her heart felt physically heavy in her chest. She could not stop the tears that slipped from her eyes. Why her!? What had she done to deserve this? She'd been nothing but a helpful tribesman and a nice girl. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair! She never asked for this. She should had turned and ran when she first saw that man with fire for hands. She hated this ship, hated this Fire Nation people, hated Zuko. She did not have an inkling of what would happen to her when they reached the Fire Nation. Would she be forced to serve Zuko for the rest of her life? Bow to people and be treated no better than mud under the shoe of some snobby nobleman? No. She could not let that happen, but her resolve to never break to the Fire Nation did nothing to help with the burden of her heavy heart.

She did not notice when her sniffles turned into wracking sobs. All she saw was the water and how _easy _it would be to just sink to the bottom and walk home. She came back from her thoughts when Zuko was dragging her away from the railing. She slumped into his arms, completely useless. She clung to the loose tunic he wore and let him walk her to her quarters. "I just want to go home," she sobbed into his chest. "Please, take me home, please." She was unaware that Zuko wanted to take her back, he wanted to so badly, but they were already in over their heads.

* * *

Mingan seemed to recover a few days after her breakdown. She ate the plain white rice, bread and tea and stayed healthy, losing only a few pounds. Zuko took her outside once a week, usually when the crew was at lunch or doing something other than being on deck and gawking at the foreign girl. A few weeks later and Mingan was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts when Zuko barged in, seemingly agitated. "Come on. We're almost at the Gates of Azulon," he said, standing in the doorway.

"What? Gates of Azulon?"

"We're docking in under an hour and you have to be presentable, now come on," he snapped. He led her down to a hall she had never been to before (well, she didn't really get out that much anyway). It was unnaturally quiet and when Zuko threw the door open Mingan saw a huge common washroom. She blushed realizing Zuko had obviously told all of the crewman to scram and allow her some privacy. Zuko may have been a real jerk, but he was not a scoundrel. "Hurry. I'll be out here waiting," he said giving her a gentle push inside and shutting the door behind her. The watertribe girl saw multiple spigots, and it didn't take her long to figure out how to use them. "And use the stuff in the bottle for your hair! And the bar of soap for everything else!" Zuko barked through the door. Mingan quickly spotted the bar of soap and shampoo, along with a red towel, white linen wraps and red gown. She shrugged, grabbed the soap and ducked under the running water. She had been able to keep herself somewhat clean by using a washcloth and washroom in her quarters but she had not had a real cleansing for weeks.

Oh! The water was hot! She had never had such a luxury in the South Pole. What water they did had to bathe with did not stay warm for very long and it was not a very pleasant experience. But this! This was incredible! It felt wonderful to have hot water pounding away at her shoulders. And the soap smelled wonderful! She could have stayed under the running water for hours, but she knew Zuko would _not _be happy -not that she cared what he thought- but she did not feel like fighting with him today. As backwards as it seemed, Mingan and Zuko had some kind of mutual agreement. He felt honor-bound to keep her safe and comfortable and she was not going to refuse his protection. He was her only lifeline in this new world to her.

She turned the water off, dried off and went about putting her under-bindings on. She pulled the gown over her head and blushed. It was... skimpy. She had never worn something so revealing. It didn't even have arms, just skinny little straps! The neckline was too low for her taste, but at least the bottom reached her ankles. The material was rich, she had never worn something so fine or silky before. But, it hugged her curves in all the WRONG places, at least in her opinion. She plucked through her hair with a comb Zuko had provided. She pushed the door open to Find Zuko propped against the wall, one foot resting on the metal behind him. He stood up straight when he heard the door unlatching, it was really very un-princely of him to slouch.

The Fire Prince had to consciously keep his jaw clenched shut when Mingan appeared. She looked wonderful in red, it contrasted pleasantly with her dark skin. And the dress fit her in all the RIGHT places. She blushed and pushed one of the straps back up. She seemed to shrink under Zuko's gaze and tried her best to appear a little more modest. A little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. She was being bashful, it was kind of endearing. "You look... nice. Here put these on," he said extending a pair of brown shoes to her, "I forgot them." She put the shoes on and stood. She gasped when he took her shoulder and spun her around and started brushing his fingers through her hair.

Mingan flinched and Zuko rolled his eyes. He quickly twisted her hair into a simple Fire Nation braid, he _had _been forced to play with his sister and her little friends for the better part of his childhood. He tied off the style that started at her hairline and pulled all over her hair into the braid. He grabbed her elbow and they went marching up to the deck. It was scorching! It felt like she was standing close to a fire! But it was all around her. Sweat started rolling down her spine almost instantly.

In the light Mingan could really see the details of his formal armor. It was darker and wider in the shoulder with yellow metal inlaid along the edges. It made him look older, taller and much more intimidating. He started rattling off things that she should and should not do when he presented her to his father.

She drew her eyes away from him long enough to immediately be enraptured at what lay before her. It was beautiful, the Fire Nation. Oh! There were so many different colors, different plants and buildings! She wandered off mid-lecture and stood at the rail. The sky was so very blue here, and the clouds, they were white and puffy! She had never seen anything like it! She barely noticed when Zuko came to stand beside her. "Welcome to the Fire Nation," he said almost reverently. But, he shattered the numbness of her thoughts and all her fears came rushing back.

When the ship bobbed along side the wooden docks a gang plank was lowered and Zuko led her down it. There was a massive crowd of people waiting to welcome their Prince home. There was a deafening roar of applause and joyful shouts when they saw Zuko descend onto Fire Nation soil.

She had never seen so many people, and they were all different shapes and sizes. However, when she appeared at Zuko's side there was a huge, single gasp from the crowd. Suddenly, they all looked the same; gold-eyed stares, sharp whispering and pointing fingers. She shrunk into Zuko's side, her arm brushing the edge of the royal mantle that hung from his shoulders. She trailed him like his own shadow as he made his way forward.

"Look at that dark skin!"

"Blue eyes! I've never seen such a thing!"

"Oh, how wonderful, a lovely companion for the Prince!"

"She doesn't belong here."

"Savage brute."

"What a beautiful girl!"

Mingan was unsure if the comments were scathing or compliments, however, that thought when right into the ocean when she saw Zuko putting a foot in a stirrup attached to a huge monster! It had leathery hide, like whale skin but uglier. It had an evil tail, black eyes and three deadly horns attached to its face. It was terrifying! She balked immediately, a sharp gasp rushing from her lungs. Zuko heard her and looked back over his shoulder at her wary form. She jumped right out of her skin when he was suddenly beside her and taking her fingers in his hand.

"How romantic!"

"What a gentleman! Why don't you treat me like that Lee!"

"Scared barbarian!"

"A feral child! She doesn't even know what a komodo-rhino is!"

"I hope that heathen gets trampled!"

She followed him cautiously, barely registering the blatant insults being hurled at her. He coaxed her close to the saddle and she was practically shaking in apprehension. All these people, the heat, this colossus beast! It was all swirling in her head too fast. Zuko grabbed her around the waist with his hands and hoisted her up into the saddle. She nearly cried out when the beast took a step backwards. "It's alright. He thinks you're a horse-fly," Zuko said swinging up behind her.

* * *

In total, the Palace was the most amazing thing Mingan had seen in her entire life. But she had little time to think about that when she was suddenly thrust into a dangerous game that she never wanted to play.

The throne room was massive, tall ceiling and fat columns with thick curtains hanging between them. There was a wall of flame at the end of the room and a shadow looming just beyond it. Mingan balked at the frightening sight that lay beyond her but Zuko grabbed her elbow and forced her to be still. She was frightened because this was all so new and different, not because of the man behind the flame. When Zuko finally stopped walking and bowed to the floor, Mingan did the same. It was best not ruffle any feathers _too _soon. "Welcome home Prince Zuko," said a voice that crawled through the air like a snake. A chill shot down her spine involuntarily.

"Thankyou Father."

"What news have you brought back?"

"I am displeased to report that there is no oil in the South Pole."

"Pity." There was a pause. "And what is this you've brought to my presence?" Ozai asked motioning to the prone girl beside Zuko.

"She is one of the natives. I took a fancy to her and decided I must have her."

"Ah, so there _are_ savages in the South Pole. Where did you find her?"

"She wandered into camp," Zuko said. He knew he must be very careful how he answered his father's questions, it was within Ozai's power to burn Mingan to a crisp if he saw fit. When the Fire Lord said nothing, Zuko continued. He had already developed a 'plan' of sorts to appease Ozai. It was not uncommon for him to order the incineration of an entire country if it did not offer anything to the Fire Nation. "I did discover many magnificent creatures, my Lord. When I first discovered the girl she was wearing animal pelts as clothing. They were very beautiful and I'm know there are people in our great Nation that would pay hefty prices for such things. I'm sure there are even exotic foods, among other things, to be exported as well. The South Pole is really a very useful place for the Fire Nation, we just have to look a little harder."

"I see. You seem to have the Nations best interests at heart. I will propose the idea to my council in time." Ozai was quiet for a moment. "Do you think we would have to exterminate the natives?"

Mingan flinched and her heart started pounding. Were her people to be destroyed because of some stupid move she pulled? If she had just stayed away from him, killed Zuko when she first saw him, none of this would be happening! None of these fire demons would even know her people existed!

"No, I don't think so. My slave has shown great interest in Fire Nation culture. She is very curious and eager to learn. With a proper education, she might become a very civilized person. If a girl can be taught then the rest of her people would also be able to partake in the opportunity to become civilzed. Maybe they would even become useful to our great nation." Ozai brought his hands up to his mouth in thought and motioned for Zuko to continue. "If the tribesmen become loyal to us, we would not have to waste the time nor resources to establish a large settlement so we could cultivate the exports, the savages know more about their goods than we do after all. These people would provide us with free labor and the Fire Nation could only profit from exports that have been hundreds of years in the making."

"Very wise, Prince Zuko. Now, let me see what you have brought home." The shadow of the Fire Lord motioned a finger for Mingan to stand. Zuko touched her arm with his fingers. She rose to her knees and glanced at the Prince warily. "Do not look him in the eyes, answer all his questions and please, for your own sake Mingan, try to get in his good graces. A simple 'my Lord' at the end of your sentences should suffice," he whispered swiftly and quietly.

Mingan rose and walked towards the wall of flame, stopping when the heat became uncomfortable. "Turn around, girl," Ozai ordered. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep form lashing out at him, telling him that she was not some kind of pet. The heat dissipated and the Fire Lord was suddenly walking down from the dais to get a closer look. She felt the tension in the air thicken, despite there only being 3 people in this room. She deduced that Zuko's father did not come down from his throne very often...

**AN: Thanks for the reviews guys! I really love to hear from you! I have a general idea for this story but if you come up with an event/idea you would like to see let me know and I will try and incorporate it! IMPORTANT!: If you see anything in here too I don't know "sexually heated" for a Christian writer PLEASE let me know so I can fix it! Onto the story!**


	4. Chapter 4

Mingan cast a secretive glance at Ozai as he walked to her. He was tall, broad shouldered and walked with the finesse of an athlete. She diverted her gaze to the floor and waited. He walked a painfully slow circuit around her, circling her like a predator playing with its food. His robes stopped swishing across the floor and his booted-feet stopped only a foot from her toes. She felt a surprisingly soft and warm finger run along her jaw, tilting her head away from him. He grasped her jaws between his long fingers gently, lifting her chin to better study her. Mingan remembered not to look him in the eye so she diverted her gaze to the side of his face.

Oh, he was very handsome. His jaw was strong, and eyes like fire. The Fire Lord hummed in his throat. He lifted his free hand and ran the back of his fingers from her temple, down to the side of her neck in an almost loving gesture. Goosebumps spread like wildfire across her skills, and not the good kind. She had not felt overly threatened by this man until now. She was naïve, but she knew she did not like the way he was touching her. She started to pull back, but his fingers tightened around her face, subtly. "Such pretty skin. I've never seen anything like it before, Zuko," Ozai commented quietly. It seemed to Mingan that the compliment was meant more for her ears than his son's.

"Look at me, girl," he commanded. The watertribe girl lifted her eyes to his cautiously. "My, what big blue eyes," he said huskily, his breath ghosting over her face. Mingan visibly shook when a shiver shot down her spine. Ozai smirked, thinking he was effectively teasing her, seducing her. But he was not, he was starting to scare her. He touched the tail of her braid, rubbing her brown strands between his fingers. "How exotic," he breathed, just to her. It was silent for a moment as Ozai continued to admire her. "You have brought home a true beauty, Son. Tell me, does she speak?"

"Yes, sir, she does."

"What's your name?"

"Mingan, my Lord." She hated how her voice shook.

"Lovely. And how old are you?"

"Fifteen." He finally let go of her face and stepped back to an appropriate distance.

"How do you like the Fire Nation?" He asked.

"It's very beautiful, Fire Lord," she answered quietly, looking back down at her feet. He returned to his throne.

"I would so love to keep this exotic beauty for my own decorative purposes, but I suppose that would be ill-mannered and uncouth of me to do so without a proper bout. But I have no desire to have a property fight with you when you have done so well," the Fire Lord oozed to Zuko.

"Thank-you, my Lord," Zuko said gracefully. Somehow Mingan did not believe him.

"But, when you tire of her, send her to me. She will have a good home," he smirked.

"I will, Father. Mingan," he said quietly, beckoning her back to his side discreetly. She settled on her knees beside him. "Thank your Fire Lord for his time and generosity," he prompted as if speaking to a small child. Mingan bristled and wanted to whirl around and give him a piece of her mind, but she felt that may not bode well for her in Ozai's presence. "Thank you for your time and generosity, Fire Lord Ozai," she said. Ozai did not seem very pleased with her lack of manners. It was customary for a person of lower rank to bow when saying their thanks and or goodbyes.

"You are dismissed," he said with a wave of his hand. Zuko stood and gave his father a proper Fire Nation bow and left, Mingan trailing behind him. She practically clung to Zuko like a small child would their mother's skirts. After all, he was the only person she knew in this whole land. He led her down many twists and turns until she was completely disoriented. She knew she would eventually have to memorize these halls if she wanted to escape one day. The Fire Prince pushed open two large doors, sending a gust of warm air into their faces. Mingan deduced rather quickly that this must be Zuko's wing of the palace, given there were many servants flocking him suddenly. He waved them off with a flick of his hand. He entered a room, shutting the door behind them. It was a reception room perhaps, and he began to shed his armor. Mingan stood just inside the door, her eyes glued to the floor. She knew it was improper for a woman to be watching a man undress.

Zuko floated into the next room, struggling with the underside ties of his armor. Mingan felt her face blush, whether it was from the heat or from the fact she was suddenly in a man's rooms without an escort, she did not know. "Come here, Mingan," he called from the other room. She startled a little and then retraced Zuko's steps into the next room over. She did not see him in this room, only plush cushions, books, trinkets on beautifully carved shelves and a low tea table. However, she heard him grunting in frustration down a very short hall to her right. She was about to leave the room but a flash of a shadow across the carpeted floor caught her attention. She saw a window, covered in a material she would later learn was called glass. She gasped audibly when she saw what lay outside of the window. There was a beautiful garden, a pond in the center of the courtyard, a fountain spraying water straight into the air. She could only liken it to the sharp mist of water that sprayed from a whales blow spout, but this seemed gentler, more like a fresh-water stream. She saw birds with small bodies and long tail feathers flitting between the leaves of the bushes along the tall concrete wall that surrounded the courtyard. There were so many different colors! Reds, blues, yellows and many other she could not name. There were flowers of which she had never seen the similar.

She pressed her fingers against the glass. It was cool under the calloused pads of her fingertips. The grass was so vibrant green, not the slightly browned grass one could catch glimpse of in the South Pole sometimes. And the trees! They were so very green too! And there were beautiful blossoms on them, petals littering the ground beneath the limbs. She wanted so badly to go outside, despite the heat, and explore that little piece of refuge. She had not even stepped foot into the garden, but she knew it would be her sanctuary. She saw a door to her left and her hand had just wrapped around the handle to push the door open when Zuko called for her again.

"Mingan!" He snorted. She sighed dejectedly and went down the short hall at her back. The second she saw a tall wardrobe and the massive, red silk covered bed, she started backing away. He surely didn't expect her to go into his bedroom did he!? "What's wrong?" He asked upon spying her from the far side of his room.

"I- we- she stuttered. She snorted and fisted her hands at her side. "You should not expect a lady to come into your room at all, let alone by herself!"

"You're not by yourself, I'm here," he sighed turning all the way around to look at her.

"Exactly! You're a man and- I'm a young lady and- it's simply improper, Zuko!" She sputtered.

"Just come in here and get this blasted armor off of me, girl!" Zuko snapped, clearly annoyed at Mingan's modesty. A strangled yelp of shock came from her throat. He rolled his eyes. "It's not as if I'm asking you to bathe me for Agni's sake, now come here and untie this." Her cheeks and neck turned bright red at his implications. She crossed the room, slowly, feeling very uncomfortable as she did. He held his arm out to her and she quickly untied the leather strings that held his armor to his body. "Now," he said once he had removed the heavy metal. "We are going to need to cover some ground rules," he said sitting on the edge of his bed and untying his boots.

"Maybe we could discuss this in the other room," she suggested quietly.

"Oh for- fine," he sighed slipping off his other boot and leading her back into the sitting room, the one with the window to the courtyard. He motioned for her to sit on one of the cushions. She did so, still shy of him and his quarters. "In order for you to stay safe here," he said collapsing into a overstuffed cushion himself, "you're going to have to act as my maidservant."

"If you think that I'm-" she started to snarl before he cut her off.

"I'm not going to expect you to do the duties of a common servant. In fact, as long as no one else is around you don't have to do anything you don't want. I feel that it's my duty to make your life as comfortable and peaceable as possible here. You did nothing wrong and do not deserve to be treated as the slave girl I christened you as. Do you understand?" Mingan nodded. "But for the sake of both of our appearances you will have to act the role of a dutiful slave. If anyone were to discover I was treating you any differently there would be consequences." He paused for a moment and scratched the bridge of his nose idly. "The common consensus would be that I had taken a strong liking to you and had proclaimed you as a concubine."

Mingan furrowed her eyebrows at this. She was not entirely sure what a concubine was, but she felt she had heard the term before. She saw a slight pink tinge come to the Prince's cheeks as he realized her confusion. "A concubine is a... well, she- they are women of pleasure for the men who buy them. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Oh." Her heart started beating faster from sheer humiliation. Her cheeks colored as she lowered eyes to the floor.

Zuko took a deep breath, trying to collect himself. He hoped that this girl would not be like tutoring a pubescent child about the facts of life. "Anyways, that would be the first misconception. The second would bare far worse punishment than that of public humiliation for you."

"Why would I be the only one to be shamed?" She demanded, feeling suddenly offended.

"Because, having a harem is perfectly acceptable for me. You seem to forget I'm the Prince of the Fire Nation. Now, the second thing some would believe is that I am truly fond of a watertribe savage and that perhaps I really don't view you as a slave but as an equal. If this thought were to arise we would both be in heaps of trouble. I would be sharply reprimanded at worst and you would be executed." Fear coursed through the girl across from him. He could see it just in the way her gaze suddenly snapped to his. Her eyes seemed to be misty and he, for one, did not want a weeping woman on his hands. "But, if you act as a maidservant in the publics eye, then everything will be fine. I will have some female servants come in here, soon enough, and give you a crash course on being a proper servant... well you are technically a slave, lower than a servant but-" Zuko stopped talking when he saw her dark glare aimed at him. "They will make sure you are measured for clothing, given the rules of a slave girl in the palace and so forth. Now that that's taken care of, you are free to any of the rooms in my quarters and the courtyard but you are not to go outside of this wing, it could be dangerous for you do you understand?"

Mingan gave him a scrupulous look. "Where am I going to sleep?" Zuko rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "I suppose I can make accommodations for you in my study," he said motioning at a door behind her. "There is only one bathroom, it is just off my bedroom, you are welcome to use it as you see fit. There is a shower, bath sink, soaps, whatever you need. I will give you the privacy I would afford any woman, so you need not be worried about that."

"And what am I going to do during the day?"

"I suppose you can read or-"Mingan gave him a look that screamed "are you stupid?" "Right, you can't read. Well, you are to be given an education, the best tutors available will be in charge of that."

"And my meals?"

"I will have the kitchen staff prepare your meals alongside mine. With any luck they will be able to find you a gentle diet."

Mingan twitched her nose, to acknowledge that she heard him.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"Yes. I want my bow back," she said casually.

"I don't think that will-"

"I. Want. My. Bow. Back."

Zuko let out an angry breath and stood. "I suppose that can be arranged. I have matters to attend to. The women will be here sometime this afternoon. Behave yourself and don't cause any trouble."

"Oh I wouldn't dare," she mocked. He gave her a look that he was being serious and left. Unfortunately for Mingan, the silence meant she was left alone with her thoughts. She missed her home, her family, and she was scared. Despite the thick shell she felt she must show Zuko, she was scared. She let her head fall in her hands but refused to cry. She had more important things to do right now, like finding a way out of this place.

**AN: Thankyou for the reviews! Really, I love hearing from you! Let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

Mingan searched Zuko's room top to bottom, looking for a possible escape route. She had tried the door and windows only to find they were locked. She was just about to start looking in the courtyard when the door in the front room opened. She peeked around the corner and saw three women coming her way. They were whispering excitedly amongst themselves and they were all carrying something; stacks of cloth, combs, brushes and many other items Mingan could not identify. When the women saw Mingan looking at them curiously, they fell silent.

The old woman stepped forward first. "My name is Ming," she said and then motioned to a tall girl to her right, "that's Sue." She waved to the woman on her left. She had a sour face and Mingan disliked her already, "and this is Jung." She paused as if waiting for some kind of acknowledgment. The Watertribe girl simply furrowed her eyebrows at them and then glanced at the items in their arms. "If you would follow us," Ming said, a little gruffly, as she led the way into Zuko's bedroom. The women set their things down and then Ming sat her down roughly in a chair in front of a large vanity.

"Look at her skin, Ming," Sue said. She was very tall and skinny. She looked quite young, perhaps even younger than Mingan. "Do you suppose that's natural for the savages?" Mingan bristled at this question. She was beginning to get very tired of people calling her a savage.

"I would think so. They are very different from us," Ming replied as she rummaged around in the things the women had brought with them.

"Her eyes are so blue! I didn't know such a thing existed!" Sue cried, most delightfully. Ming looked up into the mirror and nodded upon making eye contact with Mingan's reflection.

The sour-faced woman, Jung, took a comb from the top of the pile, gripped it between her teeth and quickly unwound the braid in Mingan's hair. Her scowl deepened when she took a handful of brown waves in her hand. She removed the comb from her teeth and went to yanking through Mingan's hair. "Such coarse hair." She made a sound of distaste. "And so ratty." Mingan glared at the woman's reflection, only to have her mean resolve vanish into a wince when Jung tore through a particularly bad knot. Ming was now shaking the wrinkles out of various articles of clothing while Sue was sifting through short glass jars containing various colored powders.

Mingan's scalp was steadily becoming sore with every stroke. "Why don't you start telling the savage girl about what is to be expected of her, Sue," Ming said from the far side of the room where she was hanging up the clothing.

"Of yes!" the girl said as she unscrewed some of the lids on the jars, "The most important thing to remember as a servant-"

She was cut off by foul women behind Mingan. "_Slave_, Sue, she is a _slave_. Don't equal her with yourself. It's disgraceful." Mingan's fingers clutched around a fistful of her dress.

"Oh," Sue giggled, "sorry. Anyways, you must always remember that your master is always right. No matter how absurd his request or how wrong you may think it is, it isn't. You do whatever he asks and you do it promptly." Jung was now twisting her hair into some kind of Fire Nation hairstyle, allowing the pins to stab Mingan's scalp. She was sure her head was going to be bleeding by the time that vile woman was finished with her hair. Sue rattled out rule after rule and Mingan decided to ignore her after about a minute. Her thoughts had drifted off to how she would escape the palace. However her concentration was shattered when something plush smashed into her face. She started choking on the thick white powder than was suddenly in her nose and lungs. Jung sharply reprimanded the foreign girl when she began squirming.

Sue was prattling on happily like nothing had happened. Before Mingan could even clear her sinuses of the vile powder, Sue began running a little brush over her eyelids. Then something wet stroked across her lash line, causing her to flinch at the peculiar sensation.

This went on for another tortuously-long ten minutes. "Well,I think that should do. Open your eyes, girl."

Mingan pried her eyes open and found a different person staring back at her. The girl in the mirror was not her. Her skin was almost creamy white and her eyes were dark with kohl and powder. She blinked and leaned forward slowly. She would not have even known it was her if it weren't for her blue eyes. She tilted her head experimentally. Her cheeks were pink and her lips red. Her reflection was very pretty. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. She did not like her reflection. "Come now, let's get your dress on." Before she could process what was happening, Ming was dragging her from the chair and pushing her to the center of the room. "Look how skinny!" Sue exclaimed.

Jung hurumphed and glared at Mingan from head to toe. "Her hips are certainly not wide enough to bear children, let alone sons."

"Perhaps with time, Jung," Ming answered as she started fiddling with the back of Mingan's dress. She could not suppress a yelp when, without warning, her gown had suddenly pooled at her feet and she was standing there in nothing but her bindings! She tried to cover herself, but Ming only swatted her hands down. Her face was burning red, even through the powder that paled her. She flinched when a cool piece of leather wrapped around her waist. She looked down as Ming studied the little marks on the band, relaying them to Sue who was writing them down. Ming tsked her tongue as she stood up straight with her fingernail pressed to the leather measuring tape. "What have you been doing with your time, girl? Doing a man's job?" The old woman said it as though she was scolding her. Mingan was not sure why her athletic build was a bad thing. In her tribe, being a fit, able-bodied person was a good thing. Spirits forbid, if her husband fell ill or was injured, it was his wife's job to then provide for the family until he recovered. If a woman could prove herself valuable by hunting or some other useful skill, she was considered more attractive than a woman who could not.

A sharp finger was jabbed into her back. She whirled around to see Jung frowning. "Those muscles make you look like man," she growled. Ming was now measuring her bust, much to Mingan's horror. "You must know that men do not like that."

"Hmm," Ming hummed, tossing the measuring tape to Sue. "I have to agree. I'll notify the cooks to make some fatty meals for you. That should help shouldn't it, Jung?"

"I would think." She sighed. "In the mean time we can at least _try _to make you look more like a young lady. Sue, give me that corset." Mingan didn't know what a 'corset' was, but she did not like the sound of it, simply being that it was coming from Jung's mouth. She doubted that woman even had an inkling of benevolence toward her. "Stand up straight," Jung snapped as she started fiddling with the laces of the truss. "Are your people totally uncivilized?" She sighed, speaking to no one, but aiming the barb at Mingan. She moved in front of Mingan and held the corset against her. "I'm not even sure this will fit your boyish body," she groaned. Jung then spotted Mingan's arms. "Look at these scars! Agni! What a barbaric little girl! Do you play in the snow with wild animals!?" Mingan shot the sour woman a cold look. The little scars and knicks on her arms were just from little slipups with a knife while she was skinning, an arrow falling from her hand. It was nothing to be ashamed of and the watertribe girl had just about had enough of Jung's insults. "It still illudes me why Prince Zuko would bring home such an ugly girl. He should have killed her and burned her village."

That final comment had finally made Mingan snap. "You fat cow! How dare you talk that way!? _Your _people are the savages! _Your _people are the uncivilized ones here and y_our're _the ugly one!" She didn't even know Jung had smacked her until she had tripped over the edge of the rug. She managed to keep herself on her feet, but Jung was quick. She had snagged Mingan by the ear and yanked her head sideways.

"You feral, petulant little monster! How dare you! Do you know who I am!?" She tugged on Mingan's ear sharply. "Foolish, ugly girl!" Jung spouted off insult after insult like a dam had just broken in her throat. The furious woman struck her again with the back of her knuckles and when Mingan tried to push her arm from her ear, Jung boxed her in the side of the head, making her other ear start to ring. She suddenly released her and then flew around to her back and pulled the corset tight against Mingan's waist. The fish-bone structuring dug into her skin and the stiff seams bit into her flesh. Jung reached around and smacked her sharply on the stomach, making all the air woosh out of her lungs. The vile woman yanked on the strings and tightened the corset so tight it felt as though her ribs were being crushed. "Dirty Fire Nation scum!" Mingan snapped, twisting away from Jung's craggy hands, but the knots had already been tied.

Jung grabbed a fistful of Mingan's brown curls and practically threw her into the thick carpet. She was shouting a never-ending string of curses, her face getting redder and redder by the second. Mingan finally managed to pushed herself to her hands, unable to contort her waist or torso at all. She heard a crackle in the air and the air seemed warmer. She looked up just in time to see a fiery hand flying at her. She ducked just in time, the flame missing her face but instead, scalding her bare shoulder, singeing right through a few layers of skin. Mingan cried out clutching at the hot burn. She screamed again, sorely wishing she hadn't touched her shoulder. There was shouting but she was too focused on the agonizing pain shooting through her body to focus on the voices around her.

Tears were spilling over her cheeks and panicked sobs wrenching from her mouth. She didn't think she had ever been in such pain before.

* * *

Zuko had been working through his bending moves in the training arena when a guard burst in. He had frantically told the Prince that there was an altercation in his chambers. Zuko took off through the palace corridors, running like a man being chased by Koh. He threw his door open to shouting and crying.

"What is going on in here!?" He demanded as he walked into his bedroom. When he spotted Mingan curled up on his carpet, flames flicked to his hands. "What happened!? He yelled. The three servants all fell totally silent and froze, staring at him like a frightened gopher-rabbit. "Prince Zuko, the watertribe girl and Jung began fighting and- and things got out of control-" Sue stammered, physically shaking in the presence of her infuriated Prince.

"Get out, all of you! And send for the royal physician! If I see any of you before he gets here, Agni help me I'll incinerate every last one of you!" The three women practically fought eachother to get out of the door. He would deal with them later, after he took care of the writhing girl at his feet.

* * *

Mingan heard Zuko's angry shouts, something about royal-somethings and inceration. When she was hauled to her feet her skin bunched and the burn was agitated even further. She was set down on something soft and through her watery tears she could see Zuko standing in front of her. It was then she noticed her state of undress. She was in so much agony and now she was mortified! She was in her undergarments in front of a strange man! She flung her good arm around her chest and pressed her knees together, hoping to cover up her indecency. Zuko crossed the room and then came back, wrapping something cool and silky around her body, under her arms. Mingan gripped the fabric tightly, grateful for the cover. A man, seemingly disheveled, burst through the doors of Zuko's room, breathing like he had been running.

"Prince Zuko," he greeted with a bow. Zuko waved a hand in Mingan's direction, his other pinching the bridge of his nose. The man scurried over and set his bag down beside her on the bed. She flinched away when he went to inspect her burn. "It's alright. I won't touch it I just want to get a closer look." Mingan eyed him suspiciously but allowed him to continue. "This is a very intense burn, Prince Zuko," the man commented off handedly. The doctor applied massive amounts of cooling antiseptic and then bandaged the wound. Then, he walked over to Zuko with a glass jar in his hand. "She needs to apply this every day until the burn fades. I'm afraid it will scar, but we can't really do much about that unfortunately."

"Thankyou, you're dismissed."

Mingan sniffled and choked down a cry of pain. Her shoulder felt much better and now she had time to realize just how tightly the corset was on her waist. Her lungs felt constricted and she found breathing to be difficult. She feebly attempted to reach around and untie the strings but the truss just wouldn't allow her to twist. She struggled for nearly a minute before Zuko spoke up. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," she blushed.

"You're doing something. Tell me what it is."

"No."

Zuko stormed over and leapt up behind her on the bed. Mingan squeaked in surprise and tried to scramble away but Zuko had snagged her arm. She could feel cool air where she had pushed the silk sheet away to try to untie the corset. "Oh. Well," Zuko huffed when he saw her predicament. Mingan squirmed against his grasp, trying to wiggle away from him and protect her decency but his hold was firm. He pushed the sheet out of the way, almost shyly and then set to untangling the strings.

"I've never understood why women wear these things," he grumbled as Mingan squirmed and he untangled.

"I didn't exactly have a choice," she bit back.

"You know this would be a lot easier if you would just hold still and I could use my other hand."

"No."

Their struggled went on for a few more minutes. "For the love of Agni, hold still! I'm trying to help you!" Zuko shouted. She flinched and stilled. He hesitantly let go of her arm and then, within seconds she felt the pressure on her lungs cease and she could breath again.

Zuko really couldn't help it, but, he may or may not have taken a peek at Mingan's bare back. He could see the way her muscles rolled under her dark skin, especially in her shoulders. And unlike the rest of her body, her back was unmarred. However his little observation was cut short when she pulled the silk close around her body again.

* * *

Zuko ordered for some servants to come and move some furniture in his study and to bring up a mattress and bedding. They worked quickly and before long Mingan had a little bedroom in the far side of the large study. It was nearing dusk and some maids had brought a set of clothing for her to wear until the seamstresses were finished with her clothes. Zuko was in his room preparing for bed. He had left the watertribe girl in his rooms when he went to eat dinner with his Father in the main dining room. He had just gotten back and had mumbled to Mingan that he was going to bed for it was late.

Mingan had stood at the window, looking out at the courtyard for a while longer, after Zuko had returned. She had stared into the garden for as long as she could until the sun had set and she was left with nothing to do. She grabbed the stack of clothes the maids had brought and proceeded to skirt past his bedroom. She may have really hated Zuko right now, but there was a part of her that was gnawing at her mind. She wasn't entirely sure what it was but perhaps she could appease it. She paused and took a step backwards. "Thankyou," she said bashfully and then scurried off to her new bedroom...

**AN: I am so terribly sorry for this horrendous chapter. I have not felt this story has been up to par with my tokka fic's writing. I don't know. I've been down recently and I cant tell if its me being too hard on myself or if I really am struggling with writing right now. However! I haven't written a full-length story in 3rd person for a while sooooo yeah idk. anywaysssss perhaps next chapter will be a bit better :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Mingan and Zuko settled into somewhat of a routine. It had been three days since their arrival and it was turning out to be very boring. Zuko would always wake at dawn and go off to do whatever he did during the day. Mingan would wake up hours later, well into the morning and eat breakfast... alone. In fact, she ate every meal by herself. It was a culture shock for her. In her tribe, eating meals with family or friends was a significant part of their lives but here, everything was so... impersonal. But, she comforted herself with the fact that she shouldn't get personal with anyone here or even_ want_ to for that matter. So she ate her meals in silence. Her food was gentle and almost always, what she came to learn was called, deep-fried. It was oily and it didn't always settle in her stomach well, but, at least it was edible and not unbearably spicy. Then, after she finished eating she would go gaze out the window at the garden. She had tried to go outside once but she found that the door was locked. That had saddened her particularly. She came to notice that the garden was actually longer than it was wide and that it did not end just out of her sight like she had originally thought. It actually went to the right farther down. But, she couldn't see to the end of the courtyard because of the angle of her head on the window.

After doing almost nothing but staring longingly out the window for hours on end every day she began to notice patterns in the wildlife. When she woke up there would be a small flock of tiny, brightly colored birds with long tails, bathing in a little stone bowl set upon a pedestal. Then they would usually fly into the tree with pink flower blossoms and eat whatever bugs or fruit they found there. Then they would leave and it was always kind of damper on Mingan's mood. Occasionaly she would see a small creature hopping out of the bushes along the walls. It looked exactly like a snow jackolope, but with out the antlers of course... and it was brown, not white. The first Mingan had seen the little animals she had nearly cried for joy at seeing something familiar. Sometimes, very early in the morning Mingan would wake up to strange noises. It sounded like tiger-seal barks but it was... different somehow. Of course she had never seen the source of the noise because it came from the part of the garden she couldn't see from the window.

Today, she woke up with an almost foreboding feeling. She had been awake for all of five minutes and she already felt depressed. She ran her bath water and just stared at the water while it filled. Her thoughts drifted back to when she was just a little girl. She had begged for her father to take her with him on a fishing trip with most of the other men of the village. He had eventually grown tired of her persistence and allowed her tag along. A gnarly storm had kicked up and the icy water had swept her off her feet, sending her plummeting into the sea. She didn't remember much of the incident, mostly just her recovery in their hut. But, she did remember her nose filling with salt water, choking her, stinging her eyes. And it was cold, so very, very cold. She had been scared of deep water ever since. The tub had filled by the time her reminiscing ended. She turned the tap off and stepped in, only to yelp and yank her foot back out. She had burned her foot! She muttered all kinds of nasty things about the Fire Nation as she nursed her aching toes.

Not only did she burn her foot, but then at breakfast she spilled her tea all over her lap. Then she tripped over tripped over a large, fancy area rug and snagged her fingernail on a cushion on the couch she caught herself on. Her day was getting worse and worse. Not only did she miss her home so much that it ached, but she was being downright clumsy. She was fighting back tears of aggravation and utter sadness when she bumped her head on her window. Her only lifeline to the outside world and it had hurt her. It was silly, but it felt like she had been betrayed. Her heart just went ahead and plummeted in her stomach and the first of many tears fell. She backed away from the window and locked herself in her room, curling up on the on the bed and crying. She missed her family so much. She could physically feel the heaviness in her chest when she thought of them. She missed her dad's warm laugh and her mom's quick wit. She was not sure when she started sobbing heart-wrenching cries, but she knew that they were all from just thinking of her parents; she had not even begun to touch the memories of her friends and the icy land she called home.

She thought of the rowdy bunch of boy she called her best friends. When she had returned home from her Pamyuan they had greeted her- after the general shock of seeing a Red Deer hide and antlers slung over her back- with louds shouts and yips like a wolf pack, a common greeting among the water tribes. She smiled sadly to herself. Her pack of rowdy boys had given her claps on the back so hard that it sent her stumbling. But she couldn't have loved the rough-housing boys more. Very quickly it turned into a competition to see who could smack her the farthest into the snow and she had retaliated triggering an all out brawl. They were a tangled mess of limbs, kicking and punching. In all the hubbub Mingan had received a particularly hard kick in the ribs leaving her with a boot-shaped bruise; but that was an occupational hazard when a petite woman pal'd around with a bunch of immature young men. She remembered the feast held in her honor in the big ceremony public hut. She could almost see her tribe sitting around the large fire, eating, singing and dancing. They danced the ancient motions of Loota-Kohanis, Chuchip and the moon and ocean spirits. She could almost hear the crackling of the fire, the laughter, the music. And it broke her heart. And then there had been Sokka, the Chief's son. She thought he was handsome and very funny. She had always kind of had a crush on him and when he asked her to dance she had accepted readily. They spent quite a bit of time together at the feast and when it was over he walked her home. It had been cold outside, their breath freezing in the air and it was awkward. He told her he had a good time and said his goodbyes, but they hadn't parted ways. The stood a foot from eachother, shuffling their feet in the snow and looking anywhere but at eachother. Suddenly he had leaned in and given her a kiss on the cheek and scurried off. As she lay there, crying on a Fire Nation mattress, she could still feel how her cheeks had warmed and how her heart had pounded. And it hurt. It hurt.

* * *

She slept through lunch and when dinner came around she wasn't hungry. She left her tray, food untouched by the one from lunch, in the same state as dinner. Mingan sat now on the floor of Zuko's study with a book in her hand and a stack on either side of her. When she had woken from her nap she left the relative privacy behind the changing screens set around her bed -to create a make shift room- and found herself to be very, very sad. In a last-ditch attempt to distract herself form her melancholy feelings she had snagged a book off the bookshelves that all but lined Zuko's study. In fact, the shelves in themselves were something to be oogled at. They started from the floor and went all the way to the high ceiling. The covered two of the four walls of the room and every single space was filled with books. Mingan didn't care for books being as she couldn't read nor had she ever seen one before. But desperation can do strange things to a person. She flipped through the pages and found it filled with the strange markings she didn't understand. But, in the back of the book, there was a beautiful picture. Mingan had never seen such a thing, something with such detail and beautiful colors. It looked as if it were real! She had to see more.

So, now she sat in a fortress of books, flipping through them eagerly, searching for more pictures. She found quite a few. She had even come across a book that was nothing but pictures a few columns of the markings. She ignored those.

"Mingan?" She heard Zuko call from the sitting room. Normally she would still be sitting on one of the cushions out there, or more often gazing out the window. She was angry with him for obvious reason. And she even blamed him for the hazardous day she had so she was really not concerned with answering his calls. "What are you doing?" He asked a few seconds later, his voice now filling up the silent space of the room. He really wasn't sure why she was looking through books if she couldn't read.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She asked sarcastically, not bothering to look up at him. Actually, it kind of annoyed him. He was used to everyone always paying rapt attention to him when he spoke.

"Well you sure aren't reading," he quipped. The girl sitting cross-legged on the floor didn't even acknowledge him. He breathed out sharply and then walked around behind her to see what she was "reading". He was about to open his mouth, make some kind of smart remark when he saw what she was looking at. He stood there like an idiot, his mouth still open and blinking curiously. It was a children's book. He didn't recognize it but stared regardless. He looked at the stack surrounding her and saw that the titles were all children's stories. He walked around her, running his eyes over the stray books strewn in front of her. The majority of them were picture books, but there were a few history and geography books. He sat down across from her and snapped his fingers, flame coming to the lamps around the room and the big candle chandelier above them.

"Thanks," she muttered, not looking up from the book in her lap. It was opened to a page with a picture of children in a courtyard, playing some sort of game. He looked at her face, tilting his a bit to the side to see under her bangs and around the strands of hair that fell from her ponytail. She was resting her head on her hand, a corner of her mouth hidden under her palm, her mouth was in a tight line, her tongue peeking out to touch a strand of dead skin on her lips. Her brows were furrowed and the space between them scrunched and her eyes staring at the book below her. He thought it was actually... really endearing.

"What are you looking for, exactly?" He asked quietly.

"Pictures," she replied, still staring at the page.

_Well that explains the children's books, _Zuko thought to himself. He yawned and rubbed his face with his hand. It had been a long day and he was tired. He started to leave but paused in the doorway. "Your tutors will be here tomorrow morning, don't give them any trouble. Please."

"Uh huh," she said, probably not even really hearing what he said. Zuko rolled his eyes and left.

* * *

Mingan was not enjoying this. She had been dragged from bed by a maid, squeezed into a corset and a tight dress with a neckline that she thought scandalous. Now she sat across from a group of middle-aged men with graying hair. There were four of them, she cared not to remember their names. They stared down their noses at her like some lesser being worthy of nothing more than to be under their feet and treated her as though she had a disease. "What do you know of arithmetic?" One of them drawled.

"Arithma- what?" She asked.

The man rolled his eyes. "Math." Well, she deduced he much be the one in charge of math.

"I know how to count and add and subtract, divide if that's what you mean."

"What is 350 divided by five?" Math asked.

"Um..." she mumbled.

"Perhaps something easier," another man suggested.

"93 add 67."

"It's uh, I um know this its-" she fumbled, her cheeks turning pink.

"Its worse than I thought." Math sighed. "This is going to be harder than I thought, I didn't expect to be teaching a dumb savage girl," he muttered.

"I am in charge of geography and sciences," another man said, she couldn't recall his name. "Where is the earth kingdom on this map?" He asked, unfurling a scroll on the table between them.

_Its a trick question. They want to trip me up, make me look like an idiot. It should be the hardest to find... the smallest. _"That one," she said pointing to a small orange area on the left of the map. They were all silent and exchanged looks with each other. She must have surprised them. She almost smiled, knowing she had answered correctly. She felt a little bit of pride at her cunning.

"No. That is not the Earth Kingdom." Her heart sunk into her stomach. She had just made an utter fool of herself. Her chest clinched and she felt nervous, that sickening feeling of being utterly wrong. "That is the Western Air Temple of the Air Nomads." Her cheeks flamed red and she opened and closed her mouth like a gasping fish. Suddenly on of the men burst out in laughter.

"The Earth Kingdom! Naïve girl! Even a stupid street child would know that was not the Earth Kingdom!" He had to take a deep breath so he could laugh some more. "Dumb girl, what next!? Do you know where the South Pole is?" He mocked. Mingan looked at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. She felt like a fool and utter, stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut instead of answering like she had traveled there, lived there! She was so angry with herself and other three tutors, chuckling and holding back laughter only made her feel worse.

The man in the middle slid a book towards her, still grinning from the jokes about her. "Read this." It was not an outrageous request, only a few figures and there was a picture next to them. But, she didn't know what the markings meant. She tried, tried so hard to figure out what they said. She stared for a long time at the four figures on the left side of the page. "Come now, it's a children's book, surely you can read that." But she couldn't. She didn't understand the markings, she had never, ever been shown writing let alone taught how to read it. Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to read, tried not to make an idiot of herself for a third time. But she couldn't do it. And it made her feel dumb. It was a child's book, something a kid could read and she couldn't.

"I- I don't know... h-how." The laughing man burst out in laughter, finding this twice as hilarious as the fact that she didn't know where the Earth Kingdom was. And as soon as he started, Math and Science joined him.

"Illiterate! I never dreamed such a thing! The Prince brought back a stupid, stupid girl! A feral, illiterate child!" He roared. Mingan felt utterly ashamed. She had never been openly laughed at before, and now within all of five minutes, it had happened twice. She hung her head as a tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly swiped it away, hoping for all she was worth that the men hadn't seen it.

Math spoke up after a long agonizing minute. "Gentlemen, we ought to take a day to adjust our lessons."

"I agree, I will have to find my lesson plans for when Prince Zuko was hardly more than a baby," the laughing man joked.

After they left, a few tears fell from her eyes but she forced the rest back. She wouldn't cry over a bunch of crazy old codgers!


	7. Chapter 7

A week had passed of constant insults and jabs at her from the tutors. She hated them, whenever she tried to ask a question she was immediately reprimanded and called a stupid savage. It only made learning harder, and she was trying, she really was. But maybe they were right, maybe she wasn't capable of learning and only good for "fulfilling the duties of a woman; cleaning and having babies." Crude jokes had been made after that and she felt mortified and ashamed that they would speak of her like that. After she was finished with her "lessons" -which consisted more of insults than actual education- she would go back to bed and sleep. She was sleeping more and more throughout the day, taking shorter baths and eating more. She wasn't sure what it was but eating warm food made her feel just a little bit better. She was sad and she was lonely. She would glance out the courtyard window but never sat and gazed like she used to. She wasn't allowed to go outside Zuko's quarters and being cooped up for over a week threw her into more panic attacks.

She was miserable.

Zuko was beyond busy. His father had set him to work, reviewing financial requests and suggestions. It was really all very boring, but it was his Princely duties and he took them in stride. He trained when he could and grabbed meals in the short moments of free time he had. Then he would go back to his wing of the palace and face the gnawing guilt inside him. He couldn't help but notice that Mingan no longer sat at the window in the evenings but he now he always found her asleep in her bed, all the covers kicked off and her in the middle of the cool sheets. He felt bad for her, felt terrible for what he had done to her. He couldn't do anything about it though, it was for her own safety that she remained as his slave.

Two more weeks passed and his work load was slowly starting to lift. He even found time to meditate in the morning and eat breakfast in the royal dining hall. He also found himself thinking of his sister a lot. He wasn't sure why, he had hardly known her but he wondered what she would have been like. She was assassinated when she was three, her death ordered by a small groups of rebels in the northern most corner of the Earth Kingdom. His mother had been very sad for a long time and his father was very angry. He never really became... un-angry after that. And then his mother had vanished a couple of years later.

He got up from his early breakfast and headed back to his quarters. Perhaps he would peek in on Mingan's lessons, see what she was learning. When he arrived he stayed quiet so as to not interrupt and stayed tucked behind a curtain in the doorway between the sitting room and anteroom. He did not like we found. Mingan's back was to him and two men across the desk from her, the other two standing nearby. "No! Wrong! Stupid girl, pay attention next time!" One of them (Jing Ra, Zuko thought) shouted. Zuko tucked himself entirely behind the gathered curtain and listened. "This character," he paused, "stands for running. This one means yard, insolent savage. Are you truly so incapable of simple knowledge?" He snapped.

"I tried to tell you, a feral woman couldn't be taught. Her brain is not as developed as ours, she won't understand, she only understands what she knows. And what she knows is barbaric, savage tendencies to eat, sleep and reproduce."

That was too far. Zuko drew himself up to his full intimidating height and made his presence known. "I am no longer in need of your services," he ground out. He shot each one of them a hard look. "I will deal with your insolence later. Get out." The men scrambled to get out of the Princes quarters, already dreading what their punishment would be.

Zuko looked down at Mingan. She had not moved, just sat there with her shoulders hunched forward. Zuko let out a breath and went to sit down across from her. "Let's see what you have here," he said softly, pulling the scroll and book across to him. It was the basic alphabet, a few simple words towards the bottom and the book, he recognized as one of his childhood favorites. He smiled a little remembering sitting in his mother's lap listening to her read to him, and then when he was older, he would read to her. He was jarred from his memory when Mingan gave a little sniff and snuck her hand up to wipe away a tear. "Hey," he comforted pushing aside the materials and leaning forward on his elbows. "Don't listen to what they said."

"Am I really stupid?" She asked suddenly looking up at him, her eyes misty. Zuko had to force himself not to recoil in shock. She looked so tired, and so worn down. He hadn't properly looked at her for a long time now and he regretted he hadn't taken the time to do so. He should have seen this sooner; she was wilting. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"No, Mingan, you are not stupid." He paused. "Are they always like that?" She nodded. "I am truly sorry. No one deserves to be treated like that, much less a young lady. I will be teaching you from now on. Have you had breakfast?" She shook her head. "Alright, that will give me time to clear my schedule anyway," he sighed standing up and leaving. He told his secretary to clear his schedule and order a servant to go down to the kitchen and send up Mingan's breakfast. Not long after the two sat at a low table, Mingan eating and Zuko sipping at tea as he went over the lessons he had demanded the tutors send up immediately. Mingan was bright, he could tell, and he suspected that with a little bit of encouragement, she would learn rather quickly.

* * *

Zuko learned a lot about Mingan in the next three hours, simply by watching her. He had always been an observer, a people watcher. He noticed all of her little habits, and the way her face would reflect what she was thinking, it was nice to see her so unguarded for once. She held her bottom lip between her teeth when she was concentrating and tucked her hair behind her ear when she finally understood something. When she made a mistake she always looked away from him. He frowned the first time he noticed her doing this. From her bold moves at the South Pole he knew she would have never backed away from a challenge. And three weeks in the Fire Nation had already made her start questioning herself. Three weeks under a constant barrage of insults had done her no good. Zuko started with a little bit of geography, showing her where the South Pole was, and where the Fire Nation was located. He pointed out where they were now, in the capital. The he showed her how to use the scale in the bottom corner to determine distance. She picked up on that quickly, but struggled a little bit with the addition when they would use the allotted length of the scale multiple times.

He told her about important cities in the Fire Nation like Ming Ra and Kuza. She seemed curious enough about his nation's history, asking questions about their cultural differences. Then, she asked a question in such a quiet, small voice he was a little taken aback. "Where's the Earth Kingdom?"

* * *

Zuko had taught her about geography and some history and then let her have the rest of the day off. He had to go to a meeting and luckily it only lasted for about an hour. When he came back he saw Mingan was again staring out the window to the courtyard. "Would you like to go outside?" He asked softly. She jumped at his voice, unaware he had came back and then she looked up at him with big innocent doe eyes, filled with something akin to the unadultered hope of a small child.

"You really mean it?"

"Come on," he said unlocking the door and holding it open for her. Mingan was quivering with excitement. She would be stepping outside these rooms for the first time in weeks, and better yet, she was going _outside. _The fresh, clean air seemed to carress her skin as she took her first, barefoot steps out of the palace. The air was hot, but the breeze was cool. Her ears filled with the sound of birds and the wind rustling the leaves of the blooming sakura tree. A grin exploded onto her lips and she was laughing.

Zuko felt his heart clench at seeing her so happy. He had been the reason she had been so constricted and mournful to begin with. He almost had to look away when she flung her arms out like a child and started laughing. She bounded over to Sakura tree and stared up into the limbs. He supposed she'd never seen a tree like this in the South Pole. She reached up on her tiptoes and plucked a flower from the lowest branch. She inhaled its sent deeply and then kept it in her hand, marveling at the colors. A bird chirped, and then hopped from one branch to the other, making the pink petals shower down on Mingan. Some got stuck in her hair and she laughed. "What are those birds called?" She asked.

"Dragon Sparrows." Zuko walked towards the end of the garden, Mingan tagging along behind him. Zuko sat down at the edge of the pond with a fountain in the middle and pulled out a piece of stale bread. Suddenly Mingan heard that strange tiger-seal noise again. She sat down next to Zuko and tilted her head towards the sound.

"What is that?" She asked. But Zuko didn't have time to answer when a mother turtleduck and her babies came waddling out of the bushes. Her hands shot to her mouth and she gasped. They were so cute! "Those are turtleducks right?" She asked quietly, worried she might scare them off.

"Yes, they are," Zuko answered, tearing off a few pieces of bread and throwing them to the ducks which were now crowding around him.

"Do you do this a lot?" Mingan asked.

"Yes, usually late at night when I can't sleep. They remind me of my mother."

"Oh." It was quiet for a moment as the turtle ducks started to nibble at Mingan's toes, making her giggle like a little girl. Zuko handed her a piece of bread. She took it hesitantly, surprised at the gesture. No one had been this kind to her in weeks. She tore a little piece off held her palm out. The mother duck waddled over and gave her hand a long look, as if trying to figure out if she were safe to accept food from. She snatched a piece and then her babies, seeing their mother do it, came over and grabbed their own pieces. Two of them started stealing a single of bread from eachother, and began chasing each other around. Zuko grabbed the trailing one gently and gave it a piece of food. "What happened to your mother?" Mingan asked.

Zuko sighed and threw bread into the nearby water, the turtleducks following the crumbs. "I don't really know. She just disappeared... I hope I can find her one day."

"I'm sorry," Mingan said quietly.

"No, I'm sorry. I've done the same thing to you. I never intended for this to happen, Mingan."

"I suppose no one ever _intends _for these things to happen," she sighed, half angry half sad. She stood up and walked away from Zuko. She heard the Prince sigh heavily, his robes rustling.

* * *

The next morning, Mingan was woken up by a servant. She was quiet, not even saying a word as she help Mingan get dressed. When she was finished being dressed up like a doll, she found Zuko in the sitting room at the low table, sipping his tea and reading a parchment. "Good morning," he greeted without looking up at Mingan.

"Morning," she yawned, sitting down across from him on a fluffy pillow.

"Your breakfast will be up soon and I thought it best to get you up so you can begin to learn how to read."

"I can't," she said softly, studying her hands clasped in her lap.

"Of course you can," he said as thought she were a child saying that boars couldn't fly.

"But-"

"No. I told you not to listen to what those old coots told you. You're bright, Mingan. You can learn to read," he said looking over the rim of his teacup and pinning her with his eyes.

He showed her the scroll with the basic alphabet on it and explained how to make each character with the ink brush. He got up and came to sit beside her so he could more easily help her. He wrote the alphabet out along the top of the paper and had her copy the characters underneath. She did quite well, but her strokes were clumsy. He demonstrated how to better steady her hand and then told her to copy the letters again. It really surprised him how quickly she picked up the new skill and while she still had a long way to go, she was off to a good start.


	8. Chapter 8

By the end of the week Mingan was reading short sentences. Zuko sat beside her, helping her sound out the longer words and pointing out how each was written. He now left the door to the garden open, allowing Mingan to go outside as she pleased. For the first time in over a month, she seemed to be flourishing.

Zuko was still sleeping when an urgent knock came to his door. "What?" He groaned, rolling over and rubbing his eyes.

"Fire Lord Ozai has summoned you and your slave girl to his rooms."

"What!?" Zuko repeated, snapping up to stare at the servant in his doorway. "Why!?"

"He didn't say, Prince Zuko."

"Get my footmen and send up that little maidservant, what's her name, Jin-"

"Jin Ra?" The servant suggested.

"Yes that's the one, now get going!" Zuko threw the blankets aside and stormed into the washroom. Hopefully he could bathe by the time his footmen arrived. He supposed Mingan would have to be scrubbed raw in order to see the Fire Lord and that could take a while. _Women. _Just as he suspected he finished drying off just as his servants bustled in to help him get into his robes. They were not formal per-say, but they were much nicer and more complicated than his regular wear.

He was stepping into his pants when Jin Ra dragged Mingan into his room and to the washroom. Mingan had accidently caught a glimpse of Zuko in his _underwear _and she blushed so hotly she thought she might begin to steam. She had to wonder just _what _was with these Fire people and their eagerness to be as naked as possible!

Zuko had finished dressing and was standing in the anteroom, tapping his foot impatiently. It had been twenty minutes since the summons and he wanted to be no later. Jin Ra gave Mingan a small smile and gently pushed her towards Zuko. The Watertribe girl was fitted in a light, shifty red dress and a golden sash tied tightly around her tiny waist. Zuko could guess she was wearing that confounded corset. She looked as though a board had been tied to her back and her stomach didn't move when she breathed. He felt bad for her, and then felt very glad he didn't have to wear one.

She followed three steps behind him all through the palace to a huge wing in which the Fire Lord lived. Normally he would share these rooms and multiple gardens with the Fire Lady but since she was deceased... (or missing) there was no feminine touch. However, it was still tastefully decorated. Zuko was directed towards the sitting room by the servants. His father was sitting in a large patch of sunlight at a tea table sipping from a tea cup. He stood immediately, his very casual robe shifting open a bit to reveal his porcelain, sculpted chest. He looked right past Zuko and grinned when he saw Mingan behind him. "Good morning," he greeted. "Come and sit down won't you?" Zuko sat across from his father and when Mingan went to sit down with him Ozai snagged her wrist. The he said lowly; "It is customary to bow before your superiors, slave." Mingan dropped to the floor and pressed her nose to the plush carpet. She didn't _want_ to fear this man, but something told her to stay far, far away from him. She was unsure if she were supposed to say something so she went with her instincts.

"Good morning, Fire Lord Ozai," she greeted back. She heard him make a sound of distaste in the back of his throat and she knew she must have made the wrong choice.

"You may rise," he said, his voice slipping back into that charismatic tone again. She hurried to sit herself next to Zuko. "I see you have been generous with her," Ozai stated matter of factly to his son.

"Perhaps, but I believe she is making progress."

"Ah, progress. It is that matter that made me summon you. I wanted to check in on her education. Since I heard what happened with the royal tutors I wanted to see how she was coming along." He did stop to allow Zuko to answer. Instead he looked her directly in the eyes. His face was smiling and almost friendly, but his eyes were like that of a viper. "Tell me, has my son been treating you well?"

Mingan couldn't get a pin on this guy. First he was treating her like a slave (which technically she was) and then two seconds later he was talking to her as if she were a human being. "Yes, very well. Thankyou for asking Fire Lord Ozai," she said, struggling to put her words in an elegant manner, but succeeding nonetheless.

"I am glad to hear that. Have you been able to enjoy the royal courtyards yet?" He asked kindly.

"Yes," she paused, trying to think of some way to make this man keep her in his good graces. She had a feeling it was wiser than being on his bad side. "I saw beautiful things I have never seen before. Birds and flowers, and a family of turtle-ducks." _Wrong answer._ Zuko and Ozai both tensed, sharing a hard glance and then Ozai narrowed his eyes at her a bit. She wondered what the big deal was about turtle-ducks. She thought they were great. She decided not to mention them again.

"Zuko, I would like to steal Mingan for the afternoon if that would be alright."

Both Zuko and Mingan froze. She felt chills fly up her spine and she turned to look at Zuko. She begged him with her eyes not to leave her alone with him. Zuko looked away hesitantly and then turned to his father. "Of course."

"You need not worry about her," Ozai chuckled upon seeing Zuko's distressed face. "I understand if she has become somewhat of a novelty to you. I will send her back when we are finished." Something in his voice told Zuko that it was time for him to leave. With a quick thankyou and a bow, Zuko left her. Just left her there. Left her there with some man whom she had yet to peg. "I wanted- oh come now don't look so frightened. I'm not going to hurt you," he said in a surprisingly soothing voice. It instantly made Mingan feel a little more sure about herself. "Have some tea, its quite good." He did not pour her the warm drink, he was a king afterall. She took a drink and swallowed. "There, that's better. Now, I wanted to ask you what you have learned so far."

"Um, I have learned some geography and some Fire Nation history."

"Really now?" Ozai said, sounded delighted. "Tell me, what exactly did your tutors teach you?"

Mingan was a little confused. She thought he was aware Zuko was teaching her now. She wouldn't disclose that information, she had a feeling Zuko might be upset if she did. "I learned about Fire Lord Sozin, his son Fire Lord Azulon, you and Prince Iroh's father..." she trailed off. She felt cornered under his golden gaze and shifted a little on her cushion.

"What else have you learned?" He asked, not bothering to comment on what she had just said.

"I've learned a bit of math and I've learned to read and write a little."

"Wonderful! Let's see what you know," he said rising suddenly, making Mingan flinch. He disappeared into another room and she wondered if she was supposed to follow. "Come on girl."

She hurried after him, not wanting to anger him. He was standing beside a grand desk. It was bigger than her entire bed! She sat down in the chair he motioned to. "Write what you can," he said, standing behind her. She wrote out the alphabet and a few simple words she could remember like run, throw, sit, fire, sky. "Very good," Ozai rewarded.

"Thank you," she answered bashfully.

"Can you write my name?" She stiffened and then shook her head. "I will teach you." He reached around her, his chest pressed into her shoulders, his hand entirely around hers and the brush clutched in her fingers. Her heart started pounding. This was the most human contact she'd had since Jung had hit her weeks ago. She could feel the muscles in his chest as he breathed across her ear. She didn't like the sensation of either. She knew in her heart that it was wrong for him to be so close to her, for her to feel so much of his body. In her tribe things were more modest than this and it made her feel a little scared. She almost panicked when a sliver of his skin touched the top of her shoulder where some of her skin was uncovered. He guided her hands through the characters of his name. Mingan was too frightened to even pay attention to what he was showing her. His palm was like fire on the back her hand and his fingers were much to warm around hers. All she could think about was how he was touching her, even if it wasn't necessarily threatening, and how wrong it all felt. He had written his name three times with her hand now. "Now you try," he said in a husky voice. Her hand was visibly shaking as she moved through the strokes clumsily. "Very nice try, Mingan," he purred. She was surprised her name, and she wished he hadn't. It sounded wrong coming from his mouth.

He towered behind her like that for nearly ten minutes as she read a small, simple passage from a scroll he sat in front of her. "This is the character for 'sakura tree'," He had told her gently when she began to struggle with the words she had not seen before.

"Isn't that the same kind of tree in Zuko's courtyard? The one with pink flowers?" She asked.

"You are very bright," he told her, a smile in his voice. Somehow, she felt as though she wanted his approval. He had done nothing to make her want it per say, and now that she had a taste of it, she decided it felt nice. She almost felt relaxed around him, and started to wonder if that "gut instinct" she had felt earlier was really just a side effect of the new fruit she had last night at dinner. He gave her a small book after that, his strong arm perched beside her as he leaned his weight against the desk. She blushed when she saw his muscles roll as she readjusted his weight. "This was a favorite of my daughter Azula's when she was child," he said opening the cover for her.

"Your daughter?" She blurted.

"Why yes. Has Zuko not told you?" He asked, sounding surprised. She shook her head. "Yes, I had a daughter, Zuko's little sister. She was three when she passed away, murdered actually." Mingan felt her heart clench. She did not want to imagine a little child being brutally killed, but the image was already ingrained in her mind. She thought the Fire Nation even more brutal. How could anyone kill a baby? And out of cold blood? She felt chills creep up her neck and she suddenly felt uneasy. Here she was with the Fire Lord, interacting with him as though he was a human being and not the monster he was. But then he started speaking again, and she reevaluated her hasty thoughts. Zuko was not _really _a monster. He had done her no harm since she had been here. He fed her, taught her, gave her beautiful clothes to wear, and didn't make her degrade herself as working as a slave girl. Perhaps his father was very much the same.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said softly.

"Thankyou." He was silent for a moment. "Perhaps I have judged you wrongly, Mingan. You do not seem the savage I initially thought." There was that approval again. A small smiled even twitched at the corners of her mouth. "Her mother was so devastated I fear it drove her to madness. I miss them both very much." Mingan thought it would be too personal and over-stepping her boundaries to ask what happened to his wife. "Now, let's see if you can read this," he encouraged. This book was much more difficult, with more words she did not recognize. Ozai even helped her sound out a particularly long word. She enjoyed the story, although it took her quite a long time to get through it. "Would you like to take a walk with me, see my favorite garden perhaps?"

"Yes, I would like that very much, thankyou," she said twisting around in her chair. He gave her big, dazzling grin and held his arm out for her. She looked from the crook of his elbow to his face and back again, unsure of what he wanted her to do. He took her dark hand in his, and with surprising gentleness, tucked her fingers in the crook of his elbow. She felt very small by the Fire Lord, but oddly comfortable. She found it hard to dwell on his previous actions as he talked with her, leading her through the grand corridors of his wing of the palace. He told her a lot about his heritage but also talked quite a lot about domestic matters, like his family and his childhood. Much to Mingan's surprise they walked right out of the palace and straight into a massive garden, no door or anything. It was literally breathtaking. She heard him chuckle, deep in his chest before he tugged her farther out into the grass. She still couldn't get enough of the outdoors, after being deprived of it for weeks.

She hadn't even really noticed she had tugged free of Ozai's arm and was edging her way towards the magnificent fountain. It was made out of a white and gray stone. Ozai said it was called marble. The crystal clear water spilled from the top and streamed into several tiers of beautiful bowls with engraved carvings along the bottoms, and then it spilled into the pond, the water falling all the way around the bottom bowl like a curtain. She crouched next to where the water lapped at the edge of the stone and dipped her fingers in. It was very cool and refreshing. She wondered briefly if there were any turtle ducks here. That was alright though, if there weren't, because a lavishly-colored lizard suddenly darted into the water and started swimming. She nearly squealed in delight at the beautiful creature, but managed to control herself. Ozai must have noticed her pleasurable surprise. "That is called a dragon lizard."

"I think it's very beautiful. All of it, actually," she said getting up and taking a long look around the gardens. Ozai walked with her along the stone paths, curving all around and through his courtyard. They finally went back inside and Ozai led her back into the sitting Zuko and she had entered hours earlier. "Thankyou for everything, Fire Lord Ozai," she said politely bowing to the floor.

"Yes, I had quite the time. You're a breath of fresh air, Mingan. Perhaps we might do this again," he said.

"I would like that, thankyou." Ozai pulled her to her feet and kissed the back of her knuckles gently. Her heart felt like it would burst through her chest. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with the gesture or not. Ozai gave her a long, smoldering gaze and then waved his guards to escort her back to Zuko's rooms.

* * *

Zuko was worried sick. He had stormed into the training courtyard and burnt every target to a crisp. He was angry at his father and angry at himself. He was angry because of Ozai's audacity to just whisk away a slave from her owner and-... he was just furious. He was worried for Mingan. He knew his father had taken a liking to her the second he laid eyes on her in the throne room a month ago. He knew how his father was with women, Agni knew he had a harem full of concubines. He knew that if his father were to make some kind of move against Mingan, that she would fight to the death. Literally. He hoped he hadn't just condemned her to something horrible. If he had just said no, been braver, less of a coward... He growled and blasted another fistful of fire at the far wall. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He had promised her he would look after her and make her life as easy as possible! And now look what he'd done!

He had worn himself out and decided to to get all the sweat and ash off of him and take a bath. After that, he had spent hours moving listlessly from room to room. He couldn't help but come back to his study, Mingan's room. He wasn't sure why, but somehow he kept coming back. He gave up eventually and just flopped into his desk chair. He scanned the room, seeing Mingan's changing screens, behind which was her bed. He had been thinking about opening up a few more of the rooms in his wing of the palace for her. She didn't seem bent on escaping, and she could have her own courtyard to visit as well. She would like that. But now that his father had taken up his liking for her again... well, it just wouldn't be safe anymore for her to be alone. Zuko sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He didn't know what to do. He could hardly deny the Fire Lord what he wanted, but at the same time, Ozai was also walking on thin ice, so to speak. If he kept up his attentions for Mingan, there would be a property bout and Zuko really did not want to fight his father... again. He wished his uncle were here. He would know what to do.

Maybe he was overreacting about all this. Maybe this was a one time thing and maybe his father really w_as _checking on her educational progress. At just about this time he heard the doors to his quarters open. He practically leapt from his chair and almost ran into the sitting room. "Are you ok?" He blurted.

Mingan stopped and gave him a confounded look. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"What did he want? You were gone all afternoon."

"I believe that's how long your father requested me for," she said as though he were stupid. "And we talked, he showed me around the gardens. He was actually quite pleasant." She sighed and flopped down on a couch along the wall. "What did you do all day?"

_Worried._ "Nothing," he shrugged.

"Fun," she said sarcastically. It quit for a moment, and awkward. Zuko just stood there in the middle of the room like an idiot. Mingan looked across the room out the window. "Can we feed the turtle-ducks after supper?"

"Sure."

It was the longest conversation the had held for a while.

* * *

A week went by, Ozai kept calling for Mingan to visit him and their time together went much the same. In the mornings and evening Mingan would eat her meals, sometimes with Zuko and sometimes without and he would tutor her when he could. Jin Ra was turning out to be a friendly person. She didn't talk too much and didn't ask too many questions. Mingan supposed she was alright with that. Zuko told her that Jin Ra would be her 'ladie's maid' or something like that. Mingan couldn't really understand that part. She thought she was supposed to be posing as a slave and if that were the case, why would she have a ladies maid. From what she understood of the palace life so far, that meant she must be important somehow. Oh well, it was no time to ponder things like that. Mingan was once again in Ozai's study, reading out loud to the Fire Lord.

"Well done," he rewarded as she finished reading. It was silent for a while, Ozai walking a few steps away. "I was wondering, Mingan, what your role was in the South Pole." She stiffened. He had never asked her about her home before, and as of late, she had been doing her best to keep the agonizing pain of loss at bay by not thinking of the South Pole.

"I was a hunter." Best keep it simple.

"Fascinating, a women doing a man's job. Tell me, were you very good at it?"

"Some would say," she answered vaguely.

"I see." He paused for a minute. "I would like to see a demonstration. Come, I have retrieved your bow and have arranged a small shooting range in the training yard."

* * *

Mingan stood, her bow drawn back, aiming at a red target. Her last few attempts had been clumsy at best, she was nervous and had not shot in a long time. But that was no excuse. She would get it right this time. Ozai had been making grunts of disappointment everytime she failed to hit the target in the center. She wanted his approval, almost craved it. She didn't know why, she knew she shouldn't care, but there was just something that made her feel adequate if he gave her a word of encouragement. So she was going to get it. The arrow sung through the air and _thunked _right in the center. Ozai praised her aim and had her retrieve the arrows and do it again. It was nice, getting to shoot again and feeling something familiar. Lucky for her, somehow had tied the feathers that were once in her hair to the bottom of the bow. She untied the three feathers, laced onto a thin leather thong with blue and white beads and shoved it down the top of her dress.

When she returned 'home' later that evening she rushed into the bathroom and tied the feathers back in her hair. It was a tedious task, braiding and tying just so, making sure they would stay where they should in the front left strands of her hair. She had thrown a fit when Zuko had demanded she take them out on the ship. She had fought him tooth and nail but he tore them out anyways. Those feathers were very special. She had found them when she was hunting. They were gifts, dropped by hawks and falcons. She had a grey one from a falcon, a spotted one from a similar bird and a tawny red feather from a hawk. She had taken great care with each one, tying them to the leather thongs and picking out just the right beads to put at the base of them. When they were back secure in her hair, where they belonged she tossed her head side to side, watching the feathers twist.

Zuko stormed in not long after, fuming. "He wants me to go to ember island for three days!" He growled. "He says its some kind of diplomatic visit to reassure the people we are still concerned with them and their problems. I hate it when he springs stuff like this on me."

"Wouldn't want to have any unwarranted surprises now would we?" Mingan deadpanned. Zuko returned with a similar look.

"Thanks for the sympathy."

"Mmhm."

"Just, be careful while I'm gone ok?" He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh, yeah sure..." She wasn't sure what he meant by that.

* * *

Zuko left two days later before Mingan had even woken up. She was supposed to meet Ozai later this morning. She had been enjoying her time with him. He had ceased being creepy and was actually quite pleasant. She had been learning a lot from him, he seemed to challenge her more than Zuko. She even got to shoot her bow and Fire Lord Ozai was even teaching her a little self-defense. She was pretty good at it already simply because her stamina was still intact and she _had _lived around a bunch of rough-housing men her whole life. He pushed her hard, actually he had taken to yelling to be honest. But, there was just that infernal desire to please him.

She was escorted to his quarters and motioned to sit down and wait for him. It was not a minute after the door closed that she heard the Fire Lord calling her name. She rose and followed after his voice, unsure of where it had come from. She eventually tracked down his call to a slightly ajar door. It was a grand door with intricate carvings in the rich wood. She had to actually take a moment to admire it before knocking. Ozai called her in and when she saw the room before her she froze in the doorway. It was his bedroom. She was still terribly uncomfortable just passing through Zuko's sleeping room and Ozai wanted her to come in there and chat?

**AN: Thankyou guys SO much for the reviews! I love hearing back from you it encourages me to write :) Also if some of you are wondering just why in the world Ozai is so OOC and switching back and forth between haughty and personable, trust me I intended that ;) it will make sense in the next chapter. **


	9. Chapter 9

Ozai was no where to be seen but he called to her again from the shadows. Mingan forced herself over the threshold and waited just inside the door. It was surprisingly dim in the Fire Lord's chambers. Mingan's eyes quickly adjusted and she could see quite well. Afterall, she had grown up in a place where it was dark six months of the year. "Good morning," Fire Lord Ozai greeted. There he was, in the far corner, lounging in a over-stuffed chair.

"G-good morning, Fire Lord Ozai," she replied, stooping down to the floor to bow. She dared not rise until he told her to. His robes rustled as he walked closer to her. He pressed the toe of his shoe into her forearm telling her it was ok to stand now.

"It's a beautiful day isn't it?" He asked in a low voice. Ironic, considering all the curtains were drawn. She nodded. He was quiet for a long moment, as though inspecting her. "Come, let's continue our reading lesson," he said, walking to the back of his chambers where a large desk sat, a candle burning bright on the corner. She sat down on the fancy chair that had a back only rising to her waist. She thought it was fairly comfortable as she leaned back against it. Ozai took his perch behind her as she opened the book and searched for where she had left off. She liked this book, though it was a little harder to understand. It had more words and less pictures than the other books she had read. She had finished all of two pages when the Fire Lord's warm hand started to creep up her shoulder-blade. She chilled at the touch, anxiety starting to roil in her stomach. However, she kept herself well put together as she continued to read aloud. It was only a few sentences later that his palm rested on the crest of her shoulder. _It's a harmless enough gesture. Nothing to get worked up about. _She continued to tell herself similar things even when his fingers began to play with the soft hairs along her hairline under her ear.

Her voice shook as she began the next page. His other hand trailed along her spine until his fingers dug into the muscle of her shoulder. He worked her skin, probably intending to relax her muscles (for what reason escaped her) but instead only made them tighter. Her shoulders hunched and she could barley concentrate on the page before her. "Um..." she choked out when the pads of his fingers ran along her throat, lifting her chin when they dragged along her jaw.

"Has anyone ever told you just how pretty your skin is?" He said huskily into her ear. She shivered and tried to edge away from him. "Shhh, just relax," he almost whispered. Her heart was starting to pound hard against her chest. His hands continued their slow, back and forth pattern up and down her neck. Her blood ran cold when he allowed his hands to travel just past her collarbone. Adrenaline surged though her system with a vengeance and she leapt from the chair on sheer impulse.

"I- I don't think you should be-" she stuttered, but he cut her off when he stepped forward and pinned the small of her back against the edge of the table. He rested both muscled arms on either side of her shaking frame. He was so close she could feel his breath on her face.

"You have nothing to worry about. I'm not going to harm you," he comforted, but his seductive voice ruined any attempt at calming her. It only made her start to panic.

"I think I should go now," she said, ducking under his arm.

The Fire Lord was fast, he snagged her wrist and yanked her to a stop. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears. It was time to leave. Right now. Her free hand shot out and tried to pry his fingers from her other arm. He jerked her close to him, so close in fact that her nose was brushing the rich robes covering his chest. His hands gripped her shoulder blades, dragging her face closer to his, only her toes touching the floor. She was flush against his sculpted chest and she hated it. She hated how she could feel every breath he took, his chest expanding and pressing against hers. "Let go of me," she demanded, shoving away from him with her palms. He slammed her little body against his, almost knocking the wind out of her lungs. His hot lips suddenly found her neck and she screamed. "No! Let go of me! Let go!" She cried, her voice growing more frantic with each word.

"You should be honored that the Fire Lord has taken an interest in you," he murmured against her skin. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it would burst free of its hold in her chest. She struggled against his iron grip feebly, her mind frenzied in the utter shock of what was happening to her. She had never been in a situation like this before, and she didn't know what to do. All of sudden his teeth scraped against her skin and his hand started to travel _down_ along her spine, that's when her senses came screaming back into her mind. Her hands shot up and she dug all ten nails into the Fire Lord's neck, peeling layers of skin off and drawing blood. An animalistic cry ripped free of Ozai's throat as he shoved her away. His push was enough to send her sprawling on the carpet. Mingan scrambled to her feet and made a break for the door. She was almost there when a blast of fire cut her off. She screamed in terror and stopped dead in her tracks. Tears sprang to her eyes from the sheer heat of the flames. Ozai was suddenly in front of her like some horrible monster, slamming the door shut with his massive hand. "You petulant woman," he snarled advancing towards her. Mingan turned and ran for the windows, she would break the glass out if she had to. Her mind was working fast, planning each possible escape route if the next one failed.

Her fingers had just tangled in the thick drapes when his hand clamped down on her shoulder and threw her to the floor. She screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping someone would come running to see what the commotion was. She managed to kick him hard in the knee before his body towered over hers. He pinned her knees together with legs and struggled to catch her hands. All rational thought had flow from her mind when she had landed on the floor. She clawed, punched and tore at him for all she was worth, and she was actually doing a pretty good job of it too until he managed to grab her wrists and trap them over her head. "Help!" She screamed. "Help me!"

"You should save your breath, no one is going to help you. They are _all_ loyal to _me_." Her mind was reeling, trying desperately to come up with a plan to get out of here. And then she saw it. Her mind flashed back to a very similar looking young man who had her pinned in the snow. Mingan stretched up and grabbed the tender flesh under Ozai's jaw and bit down. Hard. She tasted blood in her mouth and kept sinking her sharp canines into his skin. His hands flew to his neck and Mingan took the opportunity to flee. Ozai cried out in pain and scrambled away from her. Mingan leapt to her feet and nearly slammed into the door as she yanked it open. He heard the Fire Lord cry out an enraged order for someone to go after her as she tore down the hall. She wiped the blood from her lips and escaped from Ozai's apartments. Now she had free run of the entire Palace. She was lost something fierce but self-preservation would not allow her to be caught by the guard's she could heard clambering down the hall in their metal boots. She flew down on the halls and whipped around corner after corner, desperately trying to find a way to get out. She had to leave this wretched place, go back home and this was her chance. Maybe her only chance because Ozai would surley kill her if he managed to catch her. _I__f, _he managed to catch her.

Mingan went through the doors she came to in the corridors, only to have them open into more halls. But when she threw open a door and found herself outside, she nearly shouted for joy. It was an enclosed courtyard, but all the plants would make excellent cover. She shut the door as quietly as she could behind her and then turned and ran for the far corner of the garden. There were tall, thick hedges she could hide behind and it wasn't until she was crouched behind the plants that she noticed she was crying. Her body shook from fear and exertion. Her adrenaline was slowly fading away into her blood and left her limbs feeling like jelly.

The birds in the garden sung and chirped to one another as though nothing was wrong in the world. Meanwhile, Mingan hid under the cover of shrubbery, her world spinning around her. She forced her breathing to slow so she could remain quiet. If they had not found her by nightfall, she would scale the wall and escape into town, and stay hidden as best she could. She knew she was painfully different, blue eyes and dark skin, but maybe, just maybe she could hang around the docks and find a ship going anywhere but here. It seemed as though she hid for hours, her legs going completely numb as she waited. She knew it was foolish to allow them to become like this but she was too scared to move for fear of being caught. The Fire Nation sun beat down on her shoulders, sending waves of heat rolling across her skin. Her brow dripped with sweat and she had to keep wiping it away with the back of her hand.

Mingan thought she might make it to nightfall. It had been a while with no sign of the courtyard being searched. Her mouth was dry and she didn't think she had ever felt this thirsty before in her life.

Without warning fingers tangled in her hair and yanked her from the bushes. She cried out in pain and terror. She had been found. An man with red and black robes stood beside her, his hand fisted in her hair. She screamed at him to release her, fought to remove his hand from her scalp. "I found her!" He called to the garden. Mingan thought for a second he must be crazy until she saw that the door to the palace were open. How had she not heard him come in!? She clawed at his arm but he smacked her hard across the face with his other hand.

"There's the little wench! Bring her to the throne room, the Fire Lord would like to have a word with her," a man laughed, stepping out into the garden. Mingan was dragged by the hair through the palace, struck whenever she cried out. She was pretty sure her cheek was split open by the time they reached a large set of doors that looked oddly familiar. When the doors were pushed open she realized it was the throne room. It felt hotter than she remembered. The flames in front of the Fire Lord were more of an inferno than a wall. She was thrown to the ground, her skin chafing against the stone floor. She rose to her feet rather quickly, only to be pushed back down and kicked hard in the ribs. "Bow to your Fire Lord, savage!" A man yelled. Pain flooded through her system and made her groan.

"You little witch!" Ozai growled from his dais. The flames rose as he spoke. "How dare you lash out at the Fire Lord, you filthy peasant! You're lucky I did not kill you earlier. You are a slave to the Fire Nation, you have no rights here. You are nothing more than an animal to be bought and sold. And since you act like a wild animal, you will punished like a wild animal!" He shouted. Guards suddenly appeared from the shadows, stepping from behind the elaborate columns. One carried a braided whip, another's hands ignited with fire. Mingan whirled around and sprinted for the door, only to be cut off by another guard. She twisted around, desperate to escape the impending pain she was sure to endure. Her heart was pounding, her blood rushing in her ears. She felt like she was in some kind of horrible, horrible nightmare. Things like this didn't happen in the real world. At least not in any world she wanted to live in. Someone grabbed her arm and tore open the back of her dress, fabric tearing loudly, the sleeves keeping it from falling off her completely. A hand grabbed a fistful of her thick hair and jerked her head back and the other grabbed her throat. She could feel the heat from his palms and cried out when the warmth became painful. She heard metal cling together and she looked towards the sound as best she could. The man was not choking her, but simply holding her steady for whatever punishment was about to be inflicted.

A man dressed in all black appeared with a long metal rod, something round at the end, and glowing red. It was a branding iron, she had seen them used on fox-sheep in the South Pole. She tried to break away from her captors' grip, screaming and lashing out with her feet. She used her free hand to try and claw the their eyes out but her arm was restrained. She could see the red iron now. The symbol at the end was a copy of a ring Zuko owned... something called a signet ring. A Fire Nation flame encircled by licking fire and a single letter under the Fire Nation insignia. The man with the iron moved behind her back, out of her line of vision. She could feel the heat coming closer to her skin. "Stop! No, please don't!" She screamed. Agonizing pain seared against her left shoulder-blade and then spread to every nerve and fiber in her body. She had never experienced such pain before, even falling in the icy water was a better fate than this. Tears streamed down her face she thrashed wildly, her movements successfully snubbed by her captors. She remembered pain after that, not as bad as the burn on her shoulder. She even seemed to remembered loud cracking sounds but she was unsure of what it was. She prayed she would black out but darkness never came. But, her mind was hazy and she felt as though the events that took place in the throne room were from a half-remembered dream. It was better that way.

* * *

Zuko kneaded the spot between his brows. This had been a long, uneventful meeting. Nothing had been accomplished, mostly just reports about the things Ember Island needed fixing. He would leave tomorrow morning and he was very glad of that. He was worried about Mingan. Something about this whole trip left a bad taste in his mouth and the feeling that something bad had happened kept niggling away at his mind. He tried to convince himself that nothing was wrong. Mingan would be enjoying most of her time outside with the turtle-ducks, maybe even having her lunch there. When he arrived home, she would be curled up on the sofa with a children's book, practicing her new skill. Everything was fine, he needed to quit worrying. He spent the rest of the meeting nodding as though he were listening and then ended with the vague announcement that he would let the Fire Lord know of their requests.

Ember Island was not far from the Capital, only three hours by boat. It was a relief that it was not a long journey and that he could spend that time by catching up on his workouts. When he arrived in Caldera City, the crowds greeted him, waving and calling out to their Prince. It was not a large welcoming party but it was noisy none the less. His stomach growled and he couldn't wait to get back, get something to eat and bathe.

He arrived home after an annoyingly slow palanquin ride and peeled out of his heavy formal robes. Mingan was no where to be found and the curtains were drawn in the sitting room. He dropped his robe onto the arm of the sofa and went to see if she was outside. Oddly enough the door to courtyard was locked. Surely it was not so early in the morning that she was not awake yet. In fact, it was probably close to noon. He knocked softly on the study door and when no answer came he stepped inside. The room was dim, the drapes drawn and no candles were lit. He peeked around the rice-paper screens and saw her curled up on her belly. Zuko almost chuckled, the silly girl really was still sleeping. Well, she lived in the Fire Nation now and the least she could do was get up before mid sun. He approached her quietly, not wanting to startle her awake. Her hair covered her face in a tangled mess but that was fairly common for her.

"Mingan," he said quietly. "Wake up. Sleeping until noon can't be good for you." No answer. He went to push her hair from her face when his fingers brushed a clump of stiff hair. He lit the candle chandelier and leaned closer. If he didn't know better he would say it was blood. He pushed her hair back and gasped when he saw her face. Her lip was split open and swollen, a skinny trail of dried blood tracked down her chin. Her cheekbone was bruised purple and a tiny cut was scabbed over just below the bone. His eyes skirted frantically across the skin exposed from the silk sheet that had been tossed over her. Her neck was red and inflamed, maybe even a burn. His heart pounded in confusion and rage when he saw the white bandages around her fingers. On each hand, her ring and pinky finger had been broken and then buddy-wrapped. Thinking only of her health he tore the sheet back and stumbled at the site. Her pretty, flawless back was marred by three, angry, infected lacerations. He had seen those marks before on the backs of slaves around the palace. They had come from a overseers whip. The candle flames burst upwards, nearly scorching the ceiling in some places. Mingan was in nothing but her bindings and her left shoulder was wrapped in white linen Prince was beyond furious, beyond animalistic rage.

He felt her forhead searching for fever. She was far too warm, infection had already begun to spread. He breathed fire through his clenched teeth and stormed out of the room. He flung the door open to the corridors, puffs of fire coming from his nostrils every few words. "Get the royal physician now!" Several servants that were in the grand hall jumped out the skins and the started scurrying about like mole-mice. He wanted to scream, to burn everything in site, but somehow, he managed to control his temper, threatening only a few people he saw moving too slowly. He swept into the washroom and filled a basin with cool water and a clean washcloth. He set the items down on her nightstand and grabbed a cushioned stool to sit on. He dunked the towel into the small basin and wrung the excess out. He wiped the trail of blood from her mouth to her chin gently, the dried fluid becoming lividly red again. He dabbed at the cut on her bottom lip gently. Mingan moaned and her eyes flickered open. "Zuko?" She asked, her voice thick.

"Yeah, it's me," he answered quietly. Mingan could suddenly feel her entire body screaming in pain. All her muscles burned and felt horribly stiff. Her head pounded with a pain she had not felt in years (when she had gotten a head bump rough-housing with her friends). She could feel the searing burn of all the little cuts on her body, crying out for relief. She felt a dull, throbbing ache in her hands. She moved to inspect why her fingers hurt so much when a agonizing pain burst forth from her shoulder. It caught her by surprise and she actually cried out, tears pricking at her eyes. "What's wrong? What happened?" Zuko asked, suddenly sounding panicked. Pain had seared her jaws shut and she could not answer him. Her eyes were screwed shut, tears leaking down her bruised, fever-flushed cheeks. Just then the doctor rushed in panting. "Tell me what happened!" Zuko snarled.

"I-I-"

"Stop stuttering!"

"She was brought to me two days ago with burns, laceration, and four broken fingers," the physician told Zuko hurridley. "I treated her wounds but the Fire Lord sent strict instructions to do the bare minimum and then send her back with the guards that brought her to me."

"Who did this to her, Ling?" The Prince asked.

"I'm not sure, Prince Zuko. I was not told." Upon seeing Zuko's scowl, Ling added, "But the servants have been gossiping about an altercation with the Fire Lord in his bed chambers."

"WHAT!?"

"B-but it's just gossip, sir, i-it could mean anything..."

"Get to work, I will be watching you," he warned. The nervous physician checked Mingan's pulse and Zuko couldn't help but wince when she flinched away from his touch. Zuko scooted the stool over with his foot and sulked in the corner of Mingan's make-shift room. Mingan buried her face in the pillow as the physician started to unwrap the bandages around her shoulder and loosen her bindings. Zuko heard the Ling murmmer a soft apology as he let the linens pool at her sides. Zuko could now see that the slices the whip left in her back extended across the expanse of her brown skin almost to the base of her neck. He followed the scabbed line of one of the cuts until he eyes landed on her shoulder. The physician lifted the bloodied gauze from her skin and the smell of burnt, rotting flesh reached Zuko's senses. It was all too familiar to him. Behind his closed eyes, flashes of a fiery fist hurling at him and unimaginable pain seared from his memories to the forefront of his mind. He shook the thoughts and opened his eyes to see what injuries his absence had inflicted on Mingan.

His heart stopped beating when he saw his family crest burned into her skin. Guilt sunk his heart into his stomach and he felt like the lowest human being that ever lived. This innocent girl was marred for life all because of him. And worse, with _his _crest. The symbol he wore, even now, on his middle finger. He almost lost all self-control when he saw her shoulders jerk in a sob as the doctor rubbed aloe and other salves over the infected skin. He could see her un-bandaged fingers curl against the rich fabric of the sheets as she tried to choke down a sob. He remembered the agony of getting bandages changed and his burn seen to.

As he scanned her once-flawless back, he noticed that her skin was littered with purple and blue bruises. The royal physician re-wrapped her wounds and tied her bindings again. "Other than superficial wounds, there are no other injuries. She's fatigued from fever and infection. Give her this in her morning tea, and she'll be fine," he said, handing Zuko a little velvet bag of herbs.

"You're dismissed," the Prince said waving the man away. When he left, Zuko turned to speak with Mingan. "What happened?" He asked quietly. The young woman rolled away from him, as though she hadn't even heard him. He sat on the edge of the bed by her hip. "Are you hungry?" She shook her head. In actuality, she had not been given anything to eat or drink since the morning Zuko left for Ember Island. The burning thirst had dulled and the nagging hunger had numbed over the last three days. She had no desire to eat. She was still trying to recover from almost being... taken advantage of... and being beaten in punishment. She didn't understand what she had done wrong. She had protected her honor, like any woman should. She didn't understand why all these awful things had happened to her. Was she so weak that she was seen as an easy target? Why had Ozai done this to her? What had she done to deserve this? She had been ripped away from her home, ridiculed, advanced upon, beaten like a unruly animal... Mingan just couldn't process it. She didn't want to face what had happened, she just wanted to sleep so she could get away from it. She would sleep until the pain went away, if only she could.


End file.
